Rev. Dr. Raphael Gamaliel Warnock is running for Senate in Georgia against Kelly Loeffler, who was just appointed by the governor in 2018 because the elected senator could not fulfill his term for health reasons. It’s a special run-off election on January 5, 2021 because no candidate received more than 50% of the votes in the general election in November. That’s the way that Georgia does it. Each state has their own rules.
If you are not from Georgia, why should you care about who he is? I could go on for days about why I would like to see a Democrat elected from Georgia right now (Mitch McConnell only cares about his own power). I could also go on for days about why I think Kelly Loeffler is the wrong candidate (she can’t refuse money from Qanon supporters, and she can disparage players from the Atlanta Dream WNBA team of which she is 49% owner, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg). That’s not the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is to help you get to know Rev. Dr. Warnock and why he is the right person for this office right now.
Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock is a Reverend and a Doctor. Rev. Warnock has been the Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church since 2005. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Morehouse College in 1991, then went on to study at Union Theological Seminary in NYC, where he first received a Master of Divinity with honors and distinctions, and then a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the field of systematic theology. That’s a lot of education and a lot of time serving people.
Ebenezer Baptist Church isn’t just any church, it’s Reverend Martin Luther King’s Church also know as America’s Freedom Church. Warnock has said there is no separation of church and state in his principles. If that concerns you, this is what he also says,
“My ideals are driven by my faith and what has caused me to fight for access to affordable health care, the dignity of work and voting rights,” he also said. “I think your vote is your voice and your voice is human dignity. And we’ve got to make sure everyone has a voice in our democracy.”
If you’re concerned that his Christianity is an “exclusive” sort of Christianity, check out the Issues page on his Campaign for Senate website.
Hear him speak for himself. This is an address to the Conference on Volunteering and Service in 2014.
Endorsements are plenty from prominent Georgians, Stacey Abrams, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and national leaders like Barack Obama. Here he is with the late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.
Now that we know he is more than qualified, possibly the most important reason he should be elected Senator of Georgia, is that representation matters. We need good people in our government who understand their constituents. We need good people in our government who will fight for the rights of those who have never been properly represented — Black people. He would be the FIRST Black senator in Georgia. He would be the 11th Black senator in the history of the United States.
Until voting is fair in all the states, until Black people are not overrepresented in our prisons, until Black people have equal access to education, until Black people are not living shorter lives than white people, Representation Matters.
Do you want to get involved in electing Rev. Dr. Warnock? There are many ways to get involved even if you don’t live there. Visit fairfight.com to volunteer.
Laurel Bridges 