The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of the Atlanta church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, challenging Republican Kelly Loefler, who was recently appointed, reports the Associated Press.
With his well-known pulpit at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Warnock immediately brings some Democratic star power to the race — the kind that seemed to evaporate after former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams declined to enter it last year. Warnock announced his run in a campaign video on his website. It begins in the subsidized Savannah housing project where he lived as a child.
“Struggling families across Georgia have it tougher than I did back then,” Warnock said, promising to help such families by raising issues such as health care and worker pay. “I’ve always thought that my impact doesn’t stop at the church door; that’s actually where it starts,” he said. “I love this country. I believe that what makes America so great, is that we’ve always had a path to make it greater.”
Loefler was recently appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to replace three-term GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson, who stepped down in December because of faltering health. A wealthy businesswoman and political novice, she now must defend the seat in November in an open special election for the remaining two years of Isakson’s term.
Georgia’s other Senate seat also is on the ballot, with Republican Sen. David Perdue seeking a second term. The prospect of two GOP-held seats being up for grabs in November has made the state a political battleground, where Republicans still dominate but Democrats smell opportunity as suburban voters and women move away from President Donald Trump’s GOP.
