Ebenezer Baptist Church Pastor Reverend Raphael Warnock makes history in winning Georgia runoff
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Reverend Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, was elected on Tuesday to be the first black senator from Georgia.
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 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 leader Stacey Abrams and other activists. President-elect Joe Biden also won Georgia, the first time for a Democratic presidential candidate since the 1990s.
After no Georgia Senate candidate received 50% of the vote in November, the races turned to two runoffs. While Ossoff and Warnock ran on a unity ticket, Trump refused to concede his own loss, sparking a fight within the Republican Party and disenchanting some of his supporters, who believed his false claims that the vote was rigged.
Trump’s ongoing onslaught against the Republican officials in charge of the elections pressured the two GOP senators to make a choice: Join the President in seeking to overturn the democratic outcome or risk losing Trump supporters, some of whom have become disenchanted with the electoral process. Trump recently appeared to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on a private call, urging him to “find” enough votes to reverse the results. Raffensperger refused.
But despite three recounts and no evidence of widespread fraud, Loeffler and Perdue decided to join the President in objecting to Congress’ certification of the Electoral College’s results in a final, deluded display of devotion to Trump supporters.
“The American people deserve a platform in Congress, permitted under the Constitution, to have election issues presented so that they can be addressed,” said Loeffler in a statement on Monday.
While Georgia is a rapidly diversifying state, the Republican candidates came into the Senate runoff elections with an advantage.
In November, Perdue received over 88,000 more votes than Ossoff, while Loeffler and the other Republican candidates received more votes than Warnock and the other Democratic candidates in the special election (Warnock received most of the vote — 33% — overall).
Republicans hoped their message that Georgia should be a check on Washington would prove successful, noting that if Warnock and Ossoff win, Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will be in charge.
“We’re talking about the future of the country, and we can’t just turn it all over to one party,” said Eric Tanenblatt, who served as chief of staff to former Republican Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, before Election Day.
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