As Georgia’s runoff elections continue to draw national attention, one candidate made sure the focus is on the needs of the voters.
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During a recent interview on CNN‘s State Of The Union, Reverend Raphael Warnock offered his background including his upbringing in Savannah, GA public housing, and going on to become the first in his family to earn a collegiate degree. For him, winning the runoff race is to impact the lives of the voters and not to play politics.
“Voters don’t vote for politicians. This race is not about me, and Chuck Schumer‘s name is certainly not on the ballot,” he remarked.
“I will tell you what is on the ballot. Health care is on the ballot, access to affordable health care. We have got 500,000 Georgians in the Medicaid gap. We have got 1.8 million Georgians with preexisting conditions. If Kelly Loeffler has her way, people who have asthma, people who have hypertension, diabetes…these are folks in my family and in my church. Folks who are survivors of cancer may find themselves without healthcare and, that’s what this race is about.”
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This election season, Georgia has garnered national attention. The Peach State flipped and President-elect Joe Biden currently leads President Donald Trump, resulting in the swing-state voting Democrat in a presidential election for the first time since 1992. The Georgia Senate runoff elections will also be a major win for Democrats if Warnock and Jon Ossoff come out on top against their GOP opponents, the aforementioned Loeffler and David Perdue.
Warnock received 32.9 percent of the vote against Loeffler, who earned 26 percent. Ossoff received 47.8 percent of the votes while his opponent tallied 49.8 percent. None passed the necessarythe required 50-percent and one vote leading to what will be a crucial runoff race this winter. A Democratic victory means the parties would have a 50-50 split in the Senate with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting all tie-breaking votes
Much of Georgia’s recent wins for the Democratic party is attributed to the work of Stacey Abrams who worked to combat voter suppression in the southern state after she lost her gubernatorial race against Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018. theGrio reported she registered over 800,000 Georgians to vote before the 2020 presidential election.
According to theGrio, Abrams acknowledged the importance of the senate competition.
“This is going to be the determining factor of whether we have access to health care and access to justice in the United States,” she said. “Those are two issues that will make certain people will turn out.”
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