Sen. Raphael Warnock surges ahead of Herschel Walker in Georgia senate race
The Friday Flashpoints!
A recent poll from the AARP’s Georgia chapter shows that 50 percent of likely voters would vote for incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D), compared to 47 percent who would support his Republican challenger, the former football player known as Herschel Walker.
The same poll further delineated potential choices among critically important independent voters, with 48 percent indicating that they would vote for Warnock—compared to 45 percent who said they would back Walker.
With the November election less than four months away, Sen. Warnock's slow but steady surge is still disappointing to this writer.
Why?
Well, it's not just because Warnock is my Morehouse Brother, fellow Maroon Tiger newspaper alumnus, and the very first major politician to appear on my podcast back in 2020 (while Republicans that I have reached out to, including Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, have yet to sit "front and center" with Chuck Hobbs)...
It's not just because Warnock is a doting father who has never denied a child—let alone denying three whole children, like Herschel Walker has for years despite getting pats on the back from Republicans for blasting "deadbeat Black dads"( all the while being a deadbeat “rolling stone” himself)...
It's not just because Warnock is an extremely eloquent leader of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the same church that once featured another extremely eloquent Morehouse Man—Dr. Martin Luther King—while Walker is literally the most illiterate speaker that I have ever heard in the public square—and that's saying alot because there are some certified dim-witted mush-mouths who have held public office in recent years...
While those three points surely lead to my melancholy, where I really struggle is in knowing that since taking his Senate seat in January of 2021, that Warnock has been a fierce advocate for issues that impact Americans of all demographic markings— and so many uninformed voters don’t seem to even know it!
When we think of the maternal health care issues that impact all women, but disproportionately impact women of color, remember that Sen. Warnock worked with Democrats and Republicans, alike, to sponsor the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act last year. Upon introduction, Warnock said, “It’s beyond time for Congress to address the maternal health crisis that’s disproportionately killing Black women and women of color in Georgia and throughout the nation, and the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act is a critical step forward. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan legislation, and I’m going to keep working to make sure the federal government is doing its part to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity across Georgia and our nation.”
Lest we forget that Sen. Warnock also sponsored a Bill that requires the U.S. Comptroller General to study disparities associated with race and ethnicity and the distribution of benefits as provided by the Secretary of Veteran Affairs!
Those two successful Bills in less than 18 months are more than some Senators shepherd through in multiple six year terms—and a testament to how Warnock is a proud Democrat, but one who already has developed a reputation for finding common ground with Republicans when the opportunity arises.
Now, Bill sponsorship is far from the only job duty for any sitting Senator, as committee meetings, daily briefings on serious domestic and foreign issues, and engaging one's constituents so as to understand their needs are equally important. To that end, Sen. Warnock has recongized that the Covid pandemic has taken a horrific toll on American lives and the way that we work—and he has been done his level best to ease these issues by:
*Co-sponsoring legislation to cap insulin prices at $35 a vial, which would be far less than the $475 per vial that I paid for the two insulin liquids that I used from 2018-2020 to get my A1C levels under control.
*Working with the Biden administration to pass the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill that will ease the burden of America's aging roads, highways, and bridges that are death traps waiting to happen in many states.
*Working with the Biden administration to pass the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package that stimulated personal income and businesses during the worst days of the pandemic.
*Voted to confirm over 41 federal judges, including Associate Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson, the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.
When I think of these accomplishments by Sen. Warnock, and when I reflect upon how he conducts himself in the public square as a gentleman and a scholar, I get frustrated by the idea that Herschel Walker once led in this race—and now only trails by fewer than five percentage points. That such a prodigiously ignorant and uncouth man is within striking distance of becoming a U.S. Senator is frightening and yet another example that so often in the modern era, our elections have become popularity contests instead of an ideological contest between serious souls who earnestly wish to do their level bests for those who vote for them—and even for those who do not vote for them at all!
Warnock (left) and Walker…
Indeed, the differences between Messrs. Warnock and Walker are as stark as night and day; here's hoping that as more Georgians come to better understand what Warnock has already done during his brief tenure—and learn more about how Walker would only be a useful tool for ultra-right wingers who will provide him "See, Spot, Run" primers on why to vote against ordinary Americans and for the major pharmaceutical, oil, food, and insurance companies that are raising prices to recoup losses during the pandemic, that those voters will reject ignorance and vote for the only intelligent and empathetic man in the race—Sen. Raphael Warnock!