Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler is combing through her Democrat challenger’s sermons in an effort to support her claim that senior pastor Raphael Warnock is “the most radical and dangerous politician in America.”
Roll Call reports that the Republican senator and her team are using Warnock’s past sermons, writings, and personal connections against him. The race is one of two runoffs in Georgia that will likely determine what party takes control of the Senate.
Loeffler has alleged that Warnock “celebrated” Fidel Castro when the Cuban dictator visited a Harlem church where Warnock was a youth pastor in 1995. She called him an anti-Semite for making comments in a 2018 sermon where he criticized Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and referred to him as a “Marxist sympathizer who wrote a book condemning capitalism,” a reference to Warnock’s 2013 book about Black theology.
"What you need to know is in our own communities, he doesn't care about the things we care about," she said at a recent rally in Marietta, Georgia, with Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.
But some Republicans are concerned that her attacks will result in a large Black voter turnout. Black voters helped flip the state of Georgia blue in the presidential race.
According to Roll Call, Democrats and some religious leaders say Loeffler is deliberately misinterpreting the teachings of the Black church as a way to fire up supporters of President Donald Trump and have them cast votes in the runoff.
“It’s not subtle,” said Jaime Harrison, a Black Democrat who lost his race against Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham.
He told Roll Call his opponents hit him with similar attacks. He said political ads darkened the color of his skin and showed him as anti-law enforcement and pro-riot, even though he has family members in law enforcement.
“It does not shock me to see they are running a similar playbook in Georgia against Raphael Warnock, a man of the cloth. This is a reverend in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church. A man of peace. And they’re going to say this is a man that is for defunding the police and for riots and chaos,” Harrison said.
An anti-Warnock ad put out by Loeffler showed a classroom full of children saying the Pledge of Allegiance, then flashed images of street riots and pictures of Warnock preaching.
“Raphael Warnock called police thugs and gangsters,” the male narrator states. “Hosted a rally for communist dictator Fidel Castro. And praised Marxism in speeches and writings.”
Another ad, released Friday, showed Warnock at the pulpit stating, “Nobody can serve God and the military.”
Warnock said the ad misrepresented his interpretation of the gospel of Matthew, which teaches that no one can serve two masters.
“What I was expressing was the fact that as a person of faith, my ultimate allegiance is to God. And therefore, whatever else that I may commit myself to, it has to be built on a spiritual foundation,” he said during a press conference.
Marisa Herman ✉
Marisa Herman, a Newsmax senior reporter, focuses on major and investigative stories. A University of Florida graduate, she has more than a decade of experience as a reporter for newspapers, magazines, and websites.
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