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Raphael Warnock made history twice when he was elected to the Senate from Georgia in the 2020 election. He became the first black Democrat to be elected to the Senate from the Deep South. At the same time, with Jon Ossoff’s victory, both of Georgia’s Senate seats flipped from Republican to Democrat. Once considered completely Republican, Georgia has become a key battleground state that President Biden cannot afford to lose in November’s presidential election, and Warnock is a key ally. The senator denies polls that show young black voters lean more toward Trump than older voters. He says Biden’s track record as president, including a reported 60% increase in black wealth since the pandemic, will encourage high voter turnout. Warnock returns to Atlanta every Sunday to preach at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he still serves as senior pastor, and sees the election as a “moral and spiritual battle.” “Are we the kind of country that can send a black man and a Jew to the Senate from the South?” he asks. “Or are we a nation that is turning to violence in the face of our nation’s changing demographics and the struggle for a more inclusive republic?”
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