U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia landed a primetime speaking slot on the first day of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, using it to honor President Joe Biden’s accomplishments, lambast former President Donald Trump and give a vision for what the U.S. would look like under a President Kamala Harris.
Warnock, who leads the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, often melded his roles as pastor and politician in the 14-minute address. He thanked his family and Georgia voters for electing him to the Senate in 2021 and to a full term in 2022.
“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together,” he said.
But Warnock devoted much of his speech to Trump, calling him “a man too small for the office entrusted him or the task set before him.”
He cited Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, saying they led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and ensuing restrictions on voting rights in Georgia and elsewhere.
“The lie and the logic of Jan. 6 is a sickness,” Warnock said. “It is a kind of cancer that then metastasized into dozens of voter suppression laws all across our country.”
He said the 2024 election is a choice between “the promise of Jan. 5 and the peril of Jan. 6.”
“Donald Trump’s America is the America of Jan. 6,” Warnock said. “Donald Trump is a plague on the American conscience.”
It’s a critical election year, and Georgia is at the center of it. Stay in the know with WABE’s 2024 Georgia Elections page, where you can find WABE’s latest election news and podcast episodes, important dates, voting locations, candidate info, results and more.
Warnock praised Biden as “a true patriot who has always put the people first” and lauded Harris for helping Biden expand the child tax credit and pass a sweeping infrastructure bill. He also cited Harris’ tie-breaking vote to pass a law capping insulin costs for seniors to no more than $35 a month.
“We are just getting started,” he said. “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz represent the new way forward.”
Warnock was also one of the few speakers on Monday to reference the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“I need all of my neighbors’ children to be OK — poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children in Appalachia,” he said. “I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the tracks to be OK. Because we are all God’s children.”
Warnock won’t be the only one with Georgia ties to address the DNC this week. Carter Center Chair and former gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter will speak on Tuesday night, and Republican former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan will speak on Wednesday, according to the AJC.
