After a historic win in 2020, flipping a Georgia Senate seat blue during a special election, incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is fighting to retain his seat in Washington. Warnock made a name for himself by leveraging his influence as pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, formerly led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“So in just a year in the Senate, did I think I would fix Washington? Of course not,” the incumbent rhetorically asked in a campaign ad.
Reverend Warnock often uses his pulpit on Sundays to address political issues like voting rights.
“You have power in your hands,” Warnock said in a Jun. 2, 2022 sermon. “How do I know you have power? Because they passed one of the most severe voter suppression bills in the whole country. Somebody must’ve seen your power and got so afraid that they said, ‘We got to block them and stop them from coming into the house.’”
Warnock has also been highly vocal about access to abortion care.
“I have a profound reverence for life,” Warnock said. “I also have a deep and abiding respect for choice and I think that a patient’s room is too narrow and cramped of space for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government.”
Conservatives mocked this pro-choice stance.
Sports journalist Jason Whitlock tweeted:
Any room for God inside that patient's room, pastor? https://t.co/Ag8w7ehI1T
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) May 3, 2022
In 2020, Warnock rode a blue wave into Congress, but now he has to defend these stances on his own and fend off attacks from his Republican challenger Herschel Walker. The former Georgia standout and Heisman-winning running back and businessman busted through the primaries.
“If the race between my opponent were out here, [running track] I could understand why you might choose him,” Warnock said during a TV ad. “If it were here, [football field] of course, but this campaign is about who’s ready to represent Georgia.”
Heading into the general election, Georgians are waiting to see if the two candidates will debate one another.
When Walker was asked by a local political journalist if he had any intention of dodging a debate, he said, “Oh no. I don’t dodge anything.”
As of this report, the two candidates have not agreed on a date to take the debate stage. Georgia’s general election is scheduled for Nov. 8, 2022.