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November 7, 2022 
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ICYMI: As Election Day Approaches, Reverend Raphael Warnock Stops In Savannah To Encourage His Hometown To Vote Tuesday

Reverend Warnock: “There’s no place like Savannah. And I’m grateful for the values that were instilled in me here, the community that shaped and nurtured me.”

Atlanta, GA — Yesterday, Reverend Warnock traveled to his hometown of Savannah, where he hosted a canvass launch and knocked doors. Later, he hosted a GOTV rally in Savannah, where he encouraged Georgians to vote on Election Day. 

Read and watch more below:

Watch WTOC Savannah’s Coverage HERE

Flynn Snyder, WTOC Savannah: “In the final hours of his 2022 midterm campaign, incumbent Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock knocked on Eastside Savannah doors hoping to mobilize voters. It’s a homecoming for the South Georgia Democrat, who is locked in a fierce reelection campaign with Republican challenger Herschel Walker.” 

Reverend Warnock: “We’re actually in my mother’s neighborhood, not far from where my mom lives. So I know people all over the city and it’s great to be home.” 

Flynn Snyder, WTOC Savannah: “We talked with Warnock about what he’s learned through his canvassing efforts.”

Reverend Warnock: “I can’t tell you how many folks I’ve met, just knocking on doors, who work every single day. They have no health care. I’m going to be thinking about them hopefully when the people of Georgia return me to the Senate to do this work.” 

Flynn Snyder, WTOC Savannah: “The Senator met with supporters earlier in the day, enlisting the help of film director Spike Lee to energize support. Warnock also made the case for why he should be reelected when discussing his opponent.” 

Reverend Warnock: “You should ask yourself if the person you’re voting for has actually demonstrated any interest in the subject matter. And you can tell if you listen to him talk. And I think character matters, I do.” 

Flynn Snyder, WTOC Savannah: “The Senator highlighted his push for access to healthcare and lower prescription drug costs as one reason he’s focused on less urban areas.” 

Reverend Warnock: “When I think about something like Medicaid expansion, for example, the fact that our hospitals have been closing, almost all of them have been in rural areas, they’ve been outside of Atlanta. So I absolutely care about these folks.”

WTOC Savannah: Sen. Raphael Warnock makes campaign stop in Savannah

• In the final hours of his 2022 midterm campaign incumbent Georgia US Senator Raphael Warnock knocked on Eastside Savannah doors hoping to mobilize voters.

• It’s a homecoming for the south Georgia Democrat who is locked in a fierce reelection campaign with Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

• “We’re actually in my mother’s neighborhood, not far from where my mom lives. So I know people all over the city and it’s great to be home,” Sen. Raphael Warnock said.

• “I can’t tell you how many folks I’ve met, just knocking on doors, work every single day they have no healthcare. I’m going to be thinking about them hopefully when the people of Georgia return me to the Senate to do this work,” Sen. Raphael Warnock says.

• The Senator met with supporters earlier in the day enlisting the help of film director Spike Lee to energize support.

• Warnock also making the case for why he should be reelected when discussing his opponent.

• “You should ask yourself if the person you’re voting for has actually demonstrated any interest in the subject matter. And you can tell If you listen to him talk. And I think character matters, I do.”

• The Senator highlighting his push for access to healthcare and lower prescription drug costs as one reason he’s focused on less urban areas.

• “When I think about something like Medicaid expansion, for example, the fact that our hospitals have been closing. Almost all of them have been in rural areas, they’ve been outside of Atlanta. So, I absolutely care about these folks.”

Watch WSAV Savannah’s Coverage HERE

Andy Cole, WJCL Savannah: “Raphael Warnock started the morning in Atlanta preaching at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he’s been pastor for the last 15 years, and he is wrapping up the final Sunday before election day right here in his hometown.  Now Warnock teamed up with legendary filmmaker and Morehouse graduate Spike Lee to greet canvassing volunteers earlier today. And with just mere hours before the election, Warnock is focusing heavily on getting out the vote, especially with young people. This race between Warnock and Republican nominee Herschel Walker has turned into one of the most consequential in the nation. It’s been a tough race that at times has been heated, but Warnock says he’s confident that he can have this race secured by Tuesday.”

Reverend Warnock: “I was born in this state, raised in this state. I spent the last 20 years in this state fighting for Georgians. And I think I’ve proven, over and over again, that I’ll stand up to whoever I need to stand up to, including my own party. I’ll work with whoever I have to work with, including the other party, if it helps me to get good stuff done for Georgia.” 

Savannah Morning News: ‘Do the right thing’: Director Spike Lee backs Sen. Warnock at rally before Election Day

• Nearly 200 people gathered outside Savannah’s Bethel A.M.E Baptist Church to support incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock on Sunday night. 

• Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee and Emmy Award-winning actress Lynn Whitfield joined Warnock as they rallied the crowd to vote for the pastor and Savannah native. 

• Both graduates of Morehouse College, Lee made a callback to his 1989 comedy-drama “Do the Right Thing” to urge voters to mobilize and do what they can to “turn the tide.”

• “I’m a big sports fan as we know, and I’ve been to many a Knicks game where I thought the game was won,” Lee said.  “Until the whistle blows, this thing is not done … until we cross the ribbon.”

• Whitfield read “Today is Ours, Let’s Live it,” a poem by actress and poet Ruby Dee that focuses on the immediacy of now. She ended the poem with, “Is faith asleep? Let’s wake it. Because this day — November the eighth — that day is ours. Let’s take it.”

• In what is likely to be his last rally and last visit to Savannah before Election Day, Warnock reminisced on growing up in Savannah, specifically in Kayton Homes public housing and emphasized the work he has accomplished in the Senate so far.

• He also discussed his opponent Herschel Walker, noting the controversies that have plagued the former football player.

• “I love this job not because I love politics … but because I’m in love with change,” Warnock said. “Herschel Walker was an amazing football player. I grew up in the 1980s; he could razzle and dazzle you on the field. But we’re on a different field tonight. And the people of Georgia need a different kind of champion.”

Watch WJCL Savannah’s Coverage HERE

Frank Sulkowski, WJCL Savannah: “Yesterday Warnock held an event in Savannah.”

Emma Hamilton, WJCL Savannah: “In a story you’ll only see on WJCL 22, our Andy Cole sits down with the incumbent, who says there’s no comparison between himself and his opponent.”

Reverend Warnock: “These are tough times. I think the question Georgians have to ask themselves is, “who’s gonna do anything about it?” 

Andy Cole, WJCL Savannah: “It’s the final stretch of the midterm election, and Georgia’s senate race is certainly a hot one. Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock wrapped up his last Sunday where it all got started, in his hometown of Savannah rallying voters at Bethel AME Church. WJCL 22 News was exclusively invited on to the campaign bus to catch up with Senator Warnock in the last moments of the election.”

Reverend Warnock: “Even with all we’ve achieved, people are struggling. I get that. But while they’ve been paying record prices, a lot of folks in the corporate sector have been experiencing record profits. In the oil and gas sector, in the pharmaceutical sector. Which is why I capped the cost of prescription drugs, capped the cost of insulin. And I’m calling on congress to suspend the federal gas tax while we’re dealing with these energy issues caused by price gouging, a war in Ukraine and some of the global dynamics of having gone through a global pandemic.”

Andy Cole, WJCL Savannah: “Warnock is facing off against Republican former football star Herschel Walker. The race has been knock-down, drag-out for some time, but Warnock believes Georgians will be able to cut through the noise.”

Andy Cole, WJCL Savannah: “You talk about the lies that Herschel Walker has told. He’s saying the same thing: that your attacks against him are lies. I wonder what you think about that.” 

Reverend Warnock: “Anybody who’s looked at the facts knows that any effort to muddy the waters here, understands that there is no comparison whatsoever.”

Andy Cole, WJCL Savannah: “Warnock told me he believes on Tuesday, voters will have a clear choice.”

Reverend Warnock: “Georgians deserve a Senator who will tell them the truth and who understands the struggles of ordinary people.” 

WSAV Savannah: Warnock rallies in Savannah ahead of Election Day

• On Sunday, Senator Warnock made a stop in Savannah, his hometown. Warnock, greeted by dozens of supporters at Bethel AME Church, encouraged his supporters to get out and vote, calling this race “a battle for the soul of the state and nation.”

• “I’m going to leave it all on the field,” Warnock said. “I’m going to work until we hear the four greatest words ever heard in a democracy, ‘the people have spoken.’ And I hope the people give me a chance to speak on their behalf for the next six years.”

• The incumbent senator was joined by actress Lynn Whitfield, Spike Lee and several elected officials including Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who urged Georgians to make their voices heard at the polls.

• “Ladies and gentlemen, it bogs my mind why we have to stand here in a race that’s supposed to be this close when we have somebody obviously superiorly qualified,” Johnson said.

• Warnock devoted much of his speech to his experience in the Senate, touching on his work on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and capping the price of insulin.

• “Here’s the thing, while we’ve been paying record prices at the pump and at the pharmacy counter, at the grocery store there are corporate actors that have been experiencing record profits,” Warnock said.
  
• “So the question is, who’s going to stand up to them? I don’t work for the big pharmaceutical companies, I don’t work for the big oil and gas companies. I work for the people of Georgia and you need somebody who’s going to stand up for ordinary people.”

• Warnock said he feels confident in the tight race. If neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote Tuesday, it will go to a runoff election on December 6th.

• Walker has also been making his way through the Peach State on his Unite Georgia Bus Stop Rally, most recently in Paulding County on Sunday.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Warnock returns to hometown Savannah to deliver closing campaign message

• Rain showers led to swampy humidity on Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t stop a few hundred people from making their way to a church parking lot just outside of downtown to hear from a man they consider one of them: U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.

• For Warnock, campaigning in Georgia’s fourth-largest city in the closing days of his bid for a full six-year term was about more than drumming up turnout in a Democratic enclave. It was a return home.

• “There’s no place like Savannah,” he told the crowd. “And I’m grateful for the values that were instilled in me here, the community that shaped and nurtured me.”

• Savannah is where Warnock grew up and where many members of his family, including his mother, still reside. It is where he preached his first sermon and learned about church leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who embraced activism beyond the pulpit. It is the place where family, friends and mentors encouraged him to dream and now celebrate all he has accomplished.

• “I’m not surprised,” former classmate Gale Brantley said Sunday. “He was bound for greatness. He’s always been phenomenal. He’s always had his head on straight. He comes from a well-rounded family full of love and God-fearing. This is the normal Raphael. Nothing has changed about him; this is the same Raphael.”

• Brantley and Warnock attended the same schools and graduated together from Johnson High School in the class of 1987. He recognized her among a group of volunteers who packed inside a field office Sunday prior to the rally to receive a pep talk from the candidate before they all headed into the soggy weather to knock on doors.

• Warnock greeted her warmly, and they took a selfie. In between, he called out the names of her family members and told her to make sure to tell everyone he said hello.

• “That’s our man,” she said later. “He’s a Georgia man, but he’s a Savannah man. And we love him dearly.”

• Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was also at the canvassing launch. He said it was important that Warnock had not forgotten about his native city, home to one of the nation’s busiest ports and a major economic engine in Georgia, but also a city with pockets of poverty and plenty of need.

• “No. 1, he decided to come home,” Johnson said. “But he’s also saying in a very real way that coastal Georgia matters. We’ve had a lot of statewide candidates that didn’t pay any attention to the whole state. He’s been here several times. I think it’s important for people to see as he’s shown during his time in office that he is a senator for the entire state, not just for metro Atlanta.”

• Savannah in return is reflected in Warnock’s tenure as a senator, Johnson said. His upbringing in the Kayton Homes public housing project, being raised by working-class parents, the public schooling — all of it has shaped his approach to working in Washington and his message to voters as he seeks reelection.

• “He represents that if you work hard and you try hard and you demand excellence, that great things happen to you,” Johnson said. “He’s remained connected to this community and to poor people because he’s lived that experience. And that’s reflected when he talks about things like Medicare because he knows people with that experience.”

• As the sky grew pitch black, Warnock told supporters at the rally that earlier this year city leaders approached him about renaming one of its streets after him. He chose the one that he grew up on: Cape Street.

• “That kid who grew up in Kayton Homes now sits in the United States Senate,” he said. “But I haven’t forgotten about the place that made me, and I was glad to see them change that street name because I wanted some other young person to be inspired.”

• This homecoming also had a purpose beyond the nostalgia. Warnock told the people gathered that he needed their help if he was going to prevail on Tuesday against Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Vote if they haven’t already and encourage other to do the same, he said.

• “The most important thing you can do is make sure your voice is heard right now,” he said. “Are you ready to win this election?”
  

Fox 28 Savannah: Rev. Warnock rallies in hometown as election approaches

• Savannah native Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) chose to spend the Sunday before Election Day in his hometown.

• He said that Savannah nurtured him during his most formative years and instilled in him the values that shape his work in the Senate Sunday.

• Warnock spoke at a canvass launch on Sunday afternoon to dedicated supporters who are working to ensure everyone gets to the polls on Tuesday, if they haven’t already. He promised to continue to fight for Georgians and their rights if reelected.

• “I think I’ve proven over and over again that I’ll stand up to whomever I need to stand up to in my own party, I’ll work with whomever I need to work with, including the other party, if it helps me to get this stuff done for Georgia,” Warnock said.

• The senator also spoke at a rally on Sunday evening at Bethel AME Church to supporters, where he discussed his success so far in the Senate, questioned his opponent Herschel Walker’s credibility and ability to serve as a senator, and reminded everyone of the importance of voting.

• He said that voting is a type of prayer for the world you desire to see for you and your children.

• “The work of government is to help us keep the promises that all of us make to all of our children. All of us want our children and our grandchildren to thrive, and so that’s what’s at stake in this election. This election is a letter to our children,” Warnock said.

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