Georgia ‘is the new south’ and ‘is ready to flip blue’: Reverend Raphael Warnock
The November presidential election is less than a week away and both former Vice President Joe Biden and President Trump are continuing to campaign. Reverend Raphael Warnock, a democratic candidate for the Georgia Senate, joins Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Rogers, Kristin Myers, and Sibile Marcellus to discuss his own campaign for the Senate and how the presidential election is going in his state.
Video Transcript
KRISTIN MYERS: Welcome back to "2020-- A Time for Change." Well, the Georgia Senate race is one to watch, and the state could turn blue if Senate candidate [INAUDIBLE]. And our next guest managed to win their elections. We're joined now by the Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock, who is challenging Kelly Loeffler for her Senate seat.
Now, Reverend Warnock is currently the senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, a church once led by Dr. Martin Luther King. Reverend Warnock, thank you so much for joining us today. You know, a few years ago, a Democratic candidate winning a seat over a Republican was pretty unlikely in a state like Georgia. And just two years ago, Stacey Abrams failed in her gubernatorial bid in Georgia. I'm wondering for you, as you guys are looking at the landscape, what has changed in 2020?
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Thank you so very much. It's great to be here with you. Listen, you are witnessing the emergence of the New South, the reversal of the Southern strategy, and Georgia is the tip of the spear. Stacy, my good friend Stacy Abrams, did come up short, but by not-- but not by that much. Out of 4 million votes cast, she came within 55,000 votes of winning.
That's while running against a man who was both her opponent on the field and a Secretary of State. He was the umpire calling balls and strikes. And with his thumb firmly on the scale, he barely slipped by her, less than 55,000 votes, 1.4%. The good news is that since 2018, we've registered two-- we've registered 800,000 new voters in the state of Georgia. 49% of them are people of color. 45% of them are under 30. This is a New South. It's more diverse. It's forward-looking. It's inclusive. And it's ready to flip blue.
KRISTIN MYERS: So, Reverend Warnock, I have some stats for you here. I was reading a report from the "Atlanta Business Chronicle," which was written back in June, and it highlighted the increasing disparities between black and white households in the city. Now, the report highlighted that the median household income for a white family in the city was just over $83,000 compared to roughly $28,000 for a black family. I'm wondering how much economic anxiety around poverty, unemployment, especially during this pandemic, do you guys see motivating voters for not just your Senate race, but also the general election inside the state of Georgia?
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: There's no question that a lot of people are in pain across racial lines, but these-- these issues do disproportionately impact black people and people of color. You know, as you point out, I'm the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. And as a pastor, I'm there with people as they are walking through these challenging times.
We saw obviously a large transfer of black wealth during the Great Recession. Black households have not recovered in the same way and at the same rate. And then with COVID-19 pandemic poorly managed nationally and here by our state government officials, it's been a one-two punch for black families. And so I think people are very motivated.
As I'm moving all across this state, I'm on a bus right now. I've been making my way all across the state and from the southern part of the state to rural disaffected northern communities, people are in a lot of pain, and they-- they need someone in Washington who will be representing them rather than corporate interests, which is why I'm running for the US Senate.
SIBILE MARCELLUS: You've been called the pastor who could turn Georgia blue. Walk us through some of the obstacles and challenges you're facing with your campaign.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Well, I mean, look, I-- I've been working on these issues for years. I'm a first-time candidate, but I didn't begin my-- I didn't begin my campaign on January 30 when we launched. I've-- I've been on a campaign for years. When Georgia refused to expand Medicaid in this state, I stood up and said, we have to expand Medicaid.
At that point, we had 400,000 Georgians in the Medicaid gap. Now we have 500,000. Thanks in part to COVID-19, folks are in the Medicaid gap. People don't have access to the care that they need. Rural hospitals in this state are closing while we're subsidizing health care in other states. Not only is it impacting our health care system, it's a drag on our economy.
And so as I've been getting out over the last several weeks lifting up my message of opportunity for all, of expanding health care, making sure everybody has a voice in our democracy, of extolling the dignity of work, and saying that we can't call people essential workers and not pay them an essential wage, voters are responding. And I'm in a very strong position to make history, but more importantly make a difference in this state.
JEN ROGERS: We talk a lot about intersectionality these days, and I'm wondering if you could talk about what role your faith plays in this election and in getting out the vote.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: My faith is the foundation for the values that we're lifting up in this campaign, and so I hasten to say that I understand the separation of church and state. Not only do I understand it, it's-- it's something that, you know, I support and I agree with. I think it's-- it's a part of our system. But my values are informed by my faith, and this is why I stand up for ordinary people.
I'm a Matthew 25 Christian, if you will. "I was hungry, and you fed me. I was naked, and you gave me clothes. I was in prison, I was sick, and you visited me. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me." And they asked Jesus, well, when were you hungry? When were you thirsty? When were you naked? When were you in prison? When were you a stranger? "In as much as you've done it until the least of these, you've done it also unto Me." And so this idea of love your neighbor writ large in public policy is the reason why I've taken on the fights that I've taken on.
When I-- when we refused to expand Medicaid in this state, I-- I got-- I confronted the governor and was engaged in civil disobedience in order to win this basic right for Georgians. And then when the Republicans were passing a $2 trillion tax giveaway to the richest of the rich in 2017, I and other pastors went to the US Capitol protesting again.
We were arrested by the Capitol Police while we were engaged in civil disobedience. I'm running to be the next United States Senator from Georgia so that the Capitol Police can escort me one more time, this time to my new office as the next United States Senator, where I can fight for the things that I believe in, the dignity of work, health care as a human right, and that everybody ought to have a vote and a voice in their democracy.
KRISTIN MYERS: Reverend, I really wanted to ask you a very quick question before we-- we run out of time in this.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Sure.
KRISTIN MYERS: Kelly Loeffler famously sold a lot of stock during this pandemic, which a lot of people lampooned because she had, of course, been privy to some hearings and information that the American public wasn't. I just really quickly wanted to ask you what your stance are on-- on politicians, on senators, owning individual stocks.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: I think that senators should put their stocks in a-- in a blind trust. They shouldn't be playing the stock game. When people send someone to the-- to Washington DC, they don't send them there to handle their business. They send them there to handle the people's business. And that's what I intend to do.
