Reverend Raphael Warnock Becomes First African American Senator From Georgia
Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, made history last night becoming first Black elected senator from Georgia. He started off as long shot but as of Wednesday morning most major news outlets projected Warnock the winner unseating appointed Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
All eyes have been on Georgia as control of the US Senate hang in the balance since the November elections for two hotly contest races. The other runoff, which is between incumbent Sen. David Perdue and his Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff,remains too close to call. The latest numbers show Ossoff leading by 16, 370 votes.
Georgia has been trending blue for almost a decade because of black migration to the state’s major cities and suburban areas. Warnock is the first Georgia Democrat elected to the Senate in 20 years, and his election is the culmination of years of voter registration drives conducted by former state House Democratic leaderStacey Abrams and other activists. President-elect Joe Biden also won Georgia, the first time for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Warnock spoke this morning, “To everyone out there struggling today, whether you voted for me or not, know this,” Warnock said as he declared victory in a video from his home. “I hear you, I see you, and every day I’m in the United States Senate, I will fight for you. I will fight for your family.”
The Warnock and Loeffler race was contentious from the start, as his opponent attacked him with racial tactics Loeffler and the Republican Party have, for the most part, targeted Warnock. These ads and attacks pull clips from sermons Warnock has delivered.
Republicans tried to paint the pastor as a radical “extremist” left. Using sound bites from his past sermons, they’re making the case to Georgia voters that the Democrat is anti-police and anti-military. TV ads play up his criticisms of police officers and try to connect him to polarizing figures like Fidel Castro and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The tactic backfired, as coalition of African-American pastors criticized Loeffler in a open letter for her false characterizations of her opponent, the Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, had crossed a line and amounted to an attack on the Black church.
Mr. Warnock has focused his criticism on his rival’s wealth and the stock trades she made while serving in the Senate. He also criticized her for her support of President Trump as he has pushed to overturn his loss in Georgia and raised baseless allegations of fraud surrounding the election.
