The pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach, is considering a Democratic challenge to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Thursday.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock has been a vocal advocate for things like voting rights and Medicaid expansion, the newspaper noted.
“I am a pastor, but I see on the ground the ways that decisions made in Washington impact the people I love and care about,” he told the Journal Constitution.
The church recently made headlines for being the target of hate crime messages and the grounds on which Confederate flags were placed.
Isakson was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, though he has said it won’t affect his ability to serve, according to the publication.
Good! Georgia voters need to find an alternative to Republicans all the time.
I’m glad that he’s willing to consider running against a stalemate GoPer. I hope he decides to jump in and give the idiot a challenge, but he must point out his opponent’s unfinished business that’s important to his constituents.
Beautiful. GA is one of those states where if the minority population would actually turn out in full force, it would very soon be bright blue. I’m look at you, ATL!
That would be great. You can gerrymander so many US House seats in GA, but trying to suppress the vote for a US Senatorial race is a lot harder if you have a good GOTV organization in play. I suspect if he announces, a lot of new state-wide laws aimed at suppressing the voting rights of minorities in the State, will suddenly be proposed by their legislature. Both houses of their legislature are in the control of Republicans, as is the Governorship…so this development should be interesting to watch.
Sara: It is misleading to say that Ebenezer is “MLK’s church”. MLK, Jr “used to preach” at Ebenezer in the sense of giving an occasional sermon, but he was never the pastor there. His father, MLK, Sr. , was.
MLK, Jr was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, which was headquarters for the bus boycott and the Montgomery end of the march from Selma.