Democrats are pinning their hopes for total power in Raphael Warnock, who ran as a middle of the road candidate in the primary, but his past sermons and speeches will certainly come back to haunt him in the election.
There are two more critical Senate seats to be decided to determine the balance of power in the Senate.
Warnock’s radical past and strong anti-Israel views will certainly become a central issue in the campaign.
If the GOP loses both Senate races in Georgia, and Biden/Harris prevail in the Presidency, then Charles Schumer becomes the Majority Leader of the US Senate, where he will have control of the agenda.
The Democrats are pinning their hopes on Raphael Warnock, a black Baptist preacher from Atlanta.
He is opposing incumbent appointed Senator Kelly Loeffler (R). Loeffler was appointed in 2019 when the incumbent left office for health reasons.
Georgia special election rules say that all the candidates run in the same primary. There were 21 candidates in the race, the top two vote-getters go to a special election on January 5, 2021.
Warnock received 39% of the vote to Loeffler’s 26%.
In 2018 Warnock gave a sermon blaming all the problems in the Middle East on Israel and the US’s support of the Jewish homeland.
He never mentioned the terrorism the Israelis have endured throughout their history.
Instead he tacitly supported the terrorists for doing what they need to do.
He is quoted in the Washington Examiner saying:
“Yes, there may have been some folk who were violent, but we oughta know how that works out. We know what it’s like to stand up and have a peaceful demonstration and have the media focus on a few violent uprisings.”
His opposition to Israel as the impediment to Middle East peace continues despite the peace deals brokered by President Trump.
Warnock publicly opposed moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, yet that bold move helped usher in the peace agreements that Israel has supported.
In short, Israel was not the obstacle to peace in the region.
Warnock has a long history of supporting radical causes. When he was working as a pastor in NY, his church brought in Fidel Castro and gave the Communist leader a longstanding ovation.
But Warnock’s shown support of radical Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former spiritual mentor. Rev. Wright famously said “God didn’t bless America. God d*mned America.” This was so shocking that even Obama distanced himself from the cleric.
But not Warnock. He has faithfully backed him to this day.
Warnock does not back down in backing radicals. He even was arrested for obstructing justice in a child abuse case in 2002 in Maryland.
He ordered church staff not to cooperate with the police in the matter and broke up interviews.
While the charges were eventually dropped, one has to question his judgement in working with law enforcement, especially with a crime as serious as child abuse.
Expect more information to come out as political operatives listen to hours of his sermons and speeches from his years in the pulpit.
