Raphael Warnock Makes History After Winning Georgia Senate Runoff

 Rev Raphael Warnock has defeated Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler to become the next Democratic US senator from Georgia. 

 

The Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, a post once held by Martin Luther King Jr, was elected on Tuesday January 5 to be the first black Senator from Georgia. He is also the first Georgia Democrat elected to the senate in 20 years.

 

His election has been seen as a repudiation of the incumbent Republican, Senator Kelly Loeffler and her adherence to President Donald Trump

 

The runoff election was held after no Georgia senate candidate received 50% of the vote in November. The control of the US Senate now comes down to Republican David Perdue, who is running to keep his seat against Democrat Jon Ossoff.

 

Warnock ran on a platform of increased access to health care, expanding Medicaid, and protecting voting rights. He painted Loeffler, the richest member of Congress, as out of touch.

Loeffler was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp to replace Senator Johnny Isakson, who retired for health reasons. She is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, the chief executive officer of the Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, who recently became a billionaire. She had repeatedly portrayed Warnock as “radical liberal” who didn’t share Georgia values and would steer the country toward socialism.

 

Warnock will now fill the remaining two years of Isakson’s term. He received a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and a Ph.D from Union Theological Seminary. He was an assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and senior pastor at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore, before coming to Ebenezer Baptist in 2005. A center for activism on behalf of the Black community, the church is a must-stop for national politicians.

 

Warnock is the 11th Black candidate ever elected to the Senate, and he will be one of just three Black senators in the current Congress, along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC).

 

His win signifies a potential sea change in Georgia politics. It comes a few months after Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992. House Democrats also flipped their only GOP-held district of 2020 in Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District, in Atlanta’s suburbs.

 

The other Senate runoff race between Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff has not yet been called.