Raphael Warnock in 2019-20 GA special Senate race
On Abortion:
Pro-choice: focused on infant and maternal mortality
Warnock: I have a profound reverence for life and an abiding respect for choice. But those who are concerned about life, and I certainly am, ought to be focused on the incredibly high rates of infant mortality and maternal mortality in our
country when compared to other developed nations, that's something that government can work on and I've been working on it in my entire career.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Budget & Economy:
Need to invest in infrastructure, green energy jobs
Warnock: We need to begin thinking about how we survive on the other end of the pandemic. While we're providing relief, I think it's time for us to start thinking about an infrastructure program here in this country that will repair our roads and our
bridges, begin to build green energy and green energy jobs, provide jobs with a livable wage, and position our economy to lead into the future. I think that we should make sure that whatever we do, workers are at the center of that relief.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Crime:
You can affirm what officers do; hold them accountable
Warnock: I've been working on criminal justice reform. I've worked alongside law enforcement officers to do that work. We need somebody who knows how to bring people together rather than using these issues as a political point to be made.
These issues are tragic and our law enforcement officers lay it on the line every day. They have an ally with me. I just think that you can affirm what law enforcement officers do and hold them accountable.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Government Reform:
Voter suppression happens all across the country
Q: Do you think there was voter suppression two years ago? Warnock: Voter suppression is something that happens all across our country. It's happened here in the state of Georgia, but Stacey Abrams did not refuse to acknowledge the fact that
her opponent was the governor. Here we are several weeks after the election and Kelly Loeffler continues to cast doubt on an American democratic election. It's time to put this behind us and get focused on the concerns of ordinary people.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Government Reform:
Four greatest words in democracy: "The people have spoken"
Warnock: I believe in the Constitution. This is the greatest system on the planet and our country is the only country where my story is even possible. I believe in our norms,
I believe in the separation of powers, I believe in the non-violent, unchaotic transition of power. The four greatest words ever spoken in a democracy are, "The people have spoken."
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Principles & Values:
My whole life is about service; Senate would continue that
Warnock: My whole life has been about service. It is why I entered into the ministry and I am running for the United States Senate as a continuation of that life project. This gives me an opportunity to work on the issues I've been working on for years.
I grew up in public housing, the first college graduate in my family of 12 number. I'm 11 and if it were not for Pell Grants, low-interest student loans, I wouldn't be here. I know the importance of good federal policy.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Principles & Values:
Washington is not focused on ordinary people
Warnock: Here's a kid who grew up in public housing, I'm running for the Senate against the wealthiest member of Congress. Only in America is that possible. I am fighting to make sure that kids like me have access to the American dream that I believe so
much in. I'm concerned that Washington is not focused on ordinary people. You can't tell the difference between Washington back rooms and corporate boardrooms. My opponent represents the worst of that kind of problem.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Principles & Values:
Have a moral foundation for everything that we do
Kelly Loeffler: Warnock said that you can't serve God and the military. He's used the Bible to justify these attacks.Warnock: I was preaching from a very familiar Matthew text that says you can't serve God and Mammon. It was about a moral foundation
for everything that we do. When you have everything in order, that actually makes you a better soldier. It also makes you a better Senator. Had Kelly Loeffler listened to the sermon, she wouldn't have used her advantage to make millions on a pandemic.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Principles & Values:
I'm a Matthew 25 Christian: love your neighbor
Warnock: If you want to know who informs me and my sense of how we engage as people in the economic system you need look no further than Matthew 25, I'm a Matthew 25 Christian, that's what I am. I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was sick and you visited me. Love your neighbor, and for me that means you don't get rid of your neighbors healthcare particularly in the middle of a pandemic.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Welfare & Poverty:
Created community financial literacy center
Warnock: I believe in our free enterprise system, and my dad was a small business owner. During the Great Recession I was leading my church to build a community center, where we had a financial literacy center that taught people how to repair their
credit, how to create a business, how to buy a home, how to participate in our free enterprise system. Kelly Loeffler, on the other hand, was teaching the big banks how to hide their investments offshore in the Cayman Islands.
Source: Senate Runoff: 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate debate
Dec 6, 2020
On Budget & Economy:
All Americans deserve prosperity
On opportunity: "I have been preaching in this campaign the same message I have been preaching for years," Warnock told NBC News. "I've been trying to point us toward the highest ideals in our humanity and in
the covenant we have with one another as American people--that all of us deserve an opportunity to create a prosperous life for us and our families."
Source: NBC News on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 7, 2020
On Government Reform:
Will work to pass John Lewis Voting Rights Act
On voting rights: "I look forward to getting to the U.S. Senate so I can help pass the˙John Lewis Voting Rights Act," Warnock added. "I've always tried to leverage the moral truth
to create moral good. My whole life has been about service. And that doesn't end at the church door, it starts there."
Source: NBC News on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Arrested in 2014 when GA refused to expand Medicaid
Warnock's stature as a dynamic preacher at an historic church also helped cement his political stature. He and 10 others were arrested in
2014 at the Georgia Capitol when the state refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Source: NBC News on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 7, 2020
On Health Care:
AdWatch: Don't get rid of healthcare in middle of a pandemic
VOICEOVER: Raphael Warnock eats pizza with a fork and knife.VIDEO: Warnock eating pizza with a fork and knife.
VOICEOVER: Raphael Warnock once stepped on a crack in the sidewalk.
VIDEO: Warnock stepping on a crack in the sidewalk.
VOICEOVER:
Raphael Warnock even hates puppies.
VIDEO: Puppy barking at the camera.
WARNOCK [sitting on porch steps, speaking to camera]: Get ready, Georgia. The negative ads air coming.
TEXT ONSCREEN: Reverend Raphael Warnock
WARNOCK: Kelly
Loeffler doesn't want to talk about why she's for getting rid of healthcare in the middle of a pandemic. So she's going to try and scare you with lies about me. I'm Raphael Warnock, and I approve this message because I'm staying focused on what
Washington could do for you.
VIDEO: Warnock smiling at camera, holding and petting that same puppy.
WARNOCK [speaking offscreen]: And by the way, I love puppies.
TEXT ONSCREEN: Approved by Raphael Warnock. Paid for by Warnock for Georgia.
Source: OnTheIssues AdWatch transcript: 2019-20 Georgia Senate race
Nov 5, 2020
On Abortion:
A decision between a woman and her doctor
Q: Abortion--Keep legal or ban?Raphael Warnock: Legal. Supports "a woman's right to choose; a decision between her and her doctor." Opposes "all partisan attacks defunding healthcare providers like Planned Parenthood."
Kelly Loeffler: Ban. "Unapologetically pro-life." Has co-sponsored "four bills to protect the unborn." Called for investigating Planned Parenthood for receiving taxpayer funds under the Paycheck Protection Program.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Protect LGBTQ+ from housing, financial, job discrimination
Q: Protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation?Raphael Warnock: Yes. Will "protect members of the LGBTQ+ community from housing, financial, and employment discrimination."
Kelly Loeffler: Not if it interferes with religious faith. "People of faith should be protected."
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Crime:
Police accountability and bias training, against defunding
Q: Restrict police use of force and increase public oversight?Raphael Warnock: Yes. Wants increased accountability and bias training and a uniform standard for the use of force. Does not support defunding.
Kelly Loeffler: No. Co-sponsored resolutions supporting "Back the Blue" and opposing calls to defund. Critics failing "to support law enforcement at a time when they need it most."
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Drugs:
Marijuana: wants to decriminalize
Q: Marijuana--Legal or ban?Raphael Warnock: Legal. Wants to decriminalize marijuana.
Kelly Loeffler: Ban. Is "concerned about the negative effects that legalizing marijuana would have."
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Education:
Fully fund Pell Grants, strengthen loan forgiveness
Q: Support lower interest or forgiveness on student loans?
Raphael Warnock: Yes. Work to fully fund Pell Grants and strengthen loan forgiveness programs to ensure graduates can pay their loans.
Kelly Loeffler: No position found.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Climate change is here, way past time to get serious
Q: Is human-caused climate change a top priority?Raphael Warnock: Yes. It "is not something that is coming, it is here. It is way past time for all of us to get serious."
Kelly Loeffler: No position found. Her company previously lobbied for cap and trade when they'd likely have gotten contracts to administer it.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Environment:
Environmental justice is on the ballot
Q: Tighten or loosen environmental regulations?Raphael Warnock: Tighten. "Environmental justice is on the ballot." Nothing is "more important than honoring and protecting the only home we've been blessed with."
Kelly Loeffler: Unclear. Wants to "look at what we're doing with regard to the economy and the environment collectively."
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Government Reform:
Restore oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act
Q: Support stricter ID requirements and other rules on voting?Raphael Warnock: No. Supports restoring oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act, which made voting restrictions harder to enact.
Kelly Loeffler: Unclear. Introduced bill to raise penalties for voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Gun Control:
Answer to gun violence isn't masses of people carrying guns
Q: Enact more restrictive legislation on guns?Raphael Warnock: Yes. "The answer to America's gun violence isn't to encourage masses of people to carry guns."
Kelly Loeffler: No. "Strong Second Amendment supporter." Sponsored bill barring national firearm database.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Health Care:
Protect, improve, build upon the Affordable Care Act
Q: Support Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare?Raphael Warnock: Yes. Would "protect, improve, and build upon the
Affordable Care Act."
Kelly Loeffler: No. Supports lawsuit to end. Calls Medicare for All insidious attack on liberty.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Health Care:
COVID: We need leadership that believes in science
Q: Your opinion on the federal response to COVID?<Raphael Warnock: Both Georgia and Trump have stumbled on pandemic response. "We need leadership that believes in science and will act with integrity."
Kelly Loeffler: "Trump and his administration have taken the threat of COVID-19 seriously from the beginning."
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Immigration:
Jesus was an "undocumented immigrant"
Q: Expand border walls? Reduce immigration?Raphael Warnock: No. Immigration
is "desperately broken." Cites Jesus as an "undocumented immigrant."
Kelly Loeffler: Yes. Co-sponsored Asylum Abuse Reduction Act. Undocumented should not get free health care.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Jobs:
Supports pay equity with honest wages, fair overtime
Q: Support "right to work" laws, barring unions from mandating dues?Raphael Warnock: No. Supports "pay equity" with "honest wages, protected retirement, and fair overtime compensation." Endorsed by Georgia AFL-CIO.
Kelly Loeffler: Yes. Co-sponsored National Right-to-Work Act, establishing right to work on a national basis.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Jobs:
$7.25 an hour "is not a living wage"
Q: Raise federal hourly minimum wage above current $7.25?Raphael Warnock: Yes. $7.25 an hour "is not a living wage."
Will "fight to raise the minimum to a livable wage."
Kelly Loeffler: No position found.
Source: CampusElect on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
On Gun Control:
Guns not allowed in Capitol, but allowed in our schools?
The reverend declares with conviction,˙"Guns are not allowed in the state Capitol. But they want them in our churches and our schools. Have you lost your mind." Minutes later, a photo of Emmett Till fills the frame, captioned "Hoodie Sunday,"
transitioning to footage of the congregation. "We've been here before--Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin"--he cries, enunciating each syllable of the names of the deceased--"profiled, hunted down, and killed for crossing some cultural arbitrary line."
Source: Mother Jones on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 21, 2020
On Budget & Economy:
Social safety net is unique work of government
I think this extraordinary time we're living in underscores the importance of the social safety net. We have to make sure that the people who can't work have the benefits they need. We have to make sure that when people are unemployed,
that unemployment insurance benefits are there. The last thing we want is seniors having to dip into their pensions in order to fend off poverty. This is the work that government can uniquely do.
Source: AARP Voter Guide on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Expand Medicaid, protect Medicare
One of the things that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharper focus is the need for a healthcare ecosystem that embraces all citizens, particularly the most vulnerable. States like Georgia need to expand Medicaid, and we need to protect
Medicare. I will stand up against any effort to raise the age of eligibility. We have to make sure that Medicare is there, providing affordable, accessible health care, and that we keep the price of prescription drugs within control.
Source: AARP Voter Guide on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices
The high cost of prescription drugs is a sad example of the outsized influence of corporate interests in our politics. Not only has Big Pharma raised the price of generic drugs--in some cases tenfold--they've made it difficult for us to create a
system in which generic drugs could lower the cost of prescriptions. Medicare ought to be able to negotiate for lower prescription drugs. The VA does this right now. It's cut the cost of prescription drugs in half. Why can't we do it for Medicare?
Source: AARP Voter Guide on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Expand Medicaid to help with long-term care services
We know that Medicaid is the biggest payer of long-term care services such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I will be working hard to expand Medicaid funding and to help our state leaders to see that we have to expand
Medicaid here in Georgia. We've got to strengthen the Affordable Care Act so that we can ensure that our rural hospitals stay open, that we can hire long-term care workers and that people with preexisting conditions will have coverage.
Source: AARP Voter Guide on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 7, 2020
On Social Security:
Opposes raising retirement age or privatizing benefits
A budget is not just a fiscal document; it's a moral document. It says something about who we think is important and who's not. In that spirit, I will defend Social Security and Medicare. We've seen those in Washington willing to give
trillion-dollar tax cuts to their corporate friends while sacrificing the future of Medicare and Social Security in the process. I'll stand up to that, and I'll stand up against any effort to raise the age for Social Security or to privatize its benefits
Source: AARP Voter Guide on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 7, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Fraud almost nonexistent; really about voter suppression
For William Barr, the top cop in our country, to somehow suggest that vote by mail leads to fraud is wrong on its face. But it's part of what we've seen with the Republicans as we've dealt with this whole issue of voter suppression. They've used the
language of voter fraud. Everybody knows that voter fraud through voter ID, for example, is almost nonexistent. It's really a way of trying to suppress the vote. But it won't work. We're pushing back here in Georgia.
Source: Democracy Now on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Jul 29, 2020
On Crime:
We have to continue to push back against police brutality
People of color very often find themselves on the receiving end of state-sanctioned violence. And so, the response to police brutality is that there's crime in communities? There's crime in all communities. And everybody knows
that people typically commit crimes against those who are in the closest proximity to them. So this is a typical red herring. It's a distraction. And it won't stand. We have to continue to push back against police brutality.
Source: Democracy Now on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Jul 29, 2020
On Health Care:
COVID: Crisis handled like country with no resources at all
Q: Congressmembers questioned Attorney General Barr on his characterization of Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as, quote, "superb." WARNOCK: Superb? You should tell that to
the families of now nearly 150,000 Americans who are dead. Superb? We have more than our share of the coronavirus cases. In a real sense, this crisis is being handled in our country as if we were a country with no resources at all.
Source: Democracy Now on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Jul 29, 2020
On Principles & Values:
America at its highest: equal voting, health care, education
Those of us who believe in what America is at its highest, who believe in the American ideal of freedom, of "one person, one vote," those of us who believe in the dignity of our humanity and that that ought to be reflected in our public policy, which
means that people ought to have access to healthcare, that children, regardless of their ZIP code, ought to have access to a quality education, and that everybody ought to be able to vote, it's up to us to stand in this moment.
Source: Democracy Now on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Jul 29, 2020
On Government Reform:
Restore Federal election oversight under Voting Rights Act
Warnock challenged Republican opponents to back restoring certain rules for federal oversight of elections that the Supreme Court invalidated in the Voting Rights Act in 2013. "Those who will offer pious platitudes in honor of
John Lewis over the next coming days need to get busy in Congress renewing the Voting Rights Act," Warnock said. Warnock has fixed voting rights as a central theme of his campaign.
Source: The Augusta Chronicle on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Jul 21, 2020
On Budget & Economy:
A stimulus package must help working people, not just rich
Warnock said it's important any stimulus relief package keeps "struggling families and working people" at the center.˙ "We've seen stimulus packages before and sometimes they have done more than enough for people at the top--and well-connected
corporations and corporate interests--and not nearly enough for people who are just sheltering in right now, dealing with everyday bread-and-butter conversations: Will I have a job next week? If I don't, will the unemployment check come soon enough?"
Source: Huffington Post on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Apr 16, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Nexus of taken a wrecking ball to African Americans
The time is now to build a health care system that expands affordable access for all, and places care for the most marginalized among us at the center. We need leaders who will be busy doing everything they can to fight not just this global pandemic,
but the disparities in our health care system that exacerbated it. Our failure to address the nexus of income inequality, health care inequality, and racial inequality has put everyone at risk, but has taken a wrecking ball to African Americans.
Source: American Independent on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Apr 14, 2020
On Welfare & Poverty:
COVID exacerbates inequality in economics & health care
Inequality in economics and health care multiplies in the midst of a crisis. These are tragic consequences that people in Black and brown and rural and poor communities experience every day, compounded and exacerbated by problems like COVID-19.
It's no secret that a lack of access to health care and other economic challenges have resulted in a higher incidence of chronic illnesses that make individuals more likely to become seriously ill, and ultimately die, from coronavirus.
Source: American Independent on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Apr 14, 2020
On Crime:
Mass incarceration a scar on the soul of America
He held a conference at Ebenezer on ending mass incarceration and invited the Central Park 5 (now commonly referred to as the Exonerated 5) to participate. Now adults, the then-teenagers were wrongly arrested and convicted in the 1989 beating and rape
of a white female jogger in New York City's Central Park. Warnock called mass incarceration a scar on the soul of America.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Const. on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Mar 2, 2020
On Principles & Values:
2008: Joined black pastors defending controversial sermons
Warnock's national profile grew when he joined a group of black pastors who defended a prominent Chicago pastor whose sermons became a flashpoint in Barack Obama's 2008 bid for president. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the no-holds-barred former senior
pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, was known for his fiery, and some would say inflammatory, sermons. Warnock was among the religious leaders who said Wright had been taken out of context and misinterpreted by the mainstream.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Const. on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Mar 2, 2020
On Crime:
Reform is personal, older brother sentenced to life
For Warnock, the work of helping reform the nation's criminal-justice system is deeply personal. His older brother Keith, a first-time offender, was sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent drug-related offense in 1997. "He is a veteran of the first
Gulf War and has been a model prisoner, no easy feat amid the challenges of prison life, since his incarceration 22 years ago," said Warnock. "Yet it is the stigma of color and criminality that makes his story not as uncommon as one might think."
Source: The Harvard Gazette on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 17, 2019
On Crime:
Mass incarceration about segregation, loss of voting rights
Warnock sees the crisis as an extension of slavery and the laws created to enforce segregation. He cited the work of author Michelle Alexander, who argues the "mass incarceration of tens of thousands of black men for nonviolent, drug-related offenses
and the lifelong consequences that result are constituent parts of the new Jim Crow" that denies them their right to citizenship, their right to vote, opportunity, upward social mobility, and more. "I agree," said Warnock.
Source: The Harvard Gazette on 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Oct 17, 2019
Page last updated: Dec 10, 2020