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October 13, 2022 

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Reverend Warnock Holds Events Throughout Atlanta, Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

Atlanta, GA – This week, Reverend Raphael Warnock spoke to Georgians, including  celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with CASA in Action, an organization that mobilizes Latino voters to elect leaders who support immigrants and communities of color.

Read more about Reverend Warnock’s week on the campaign trail below. 

Reverend Warnock hosted a press call with student journalists to discuss his work to protect Georgia jobs, make college more affordable, and bolster our state’s research capabilities. Student journalists from colleges and universities across Georgia were represented on the call including: Augusta University, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Southwestern State University, Morehouse College, Piedmont University, Spelman College, and the University of Georgia.

The Bell Ringer, Augusta University: Warnock talks student loan debt relief, voting and Augusta in student press call

• Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock (D) hosted a student press call Monday, Oct. 10, to answer questions from student journalists four days before his debate with Republican candidate Herschel Walker.
  
  
• Warnock, the Democratic candidate for the Georgia U.S. Senate race, was sworn in back in January of 2021. Warnock has advocated for policies like student loan debt relief and often campaigns on bipartisan work he has done with members of the Republican Party.
  
  
• In the Zoom call this week, Warnock spoke to student journalists from colleges across Georgia, including Augusta University, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Morehouse College, of which Warnock is an alumnus.
  
  
• As prices rise throughout the country, Warnock said he plans to make the cost of living more affordable for students and families. He said that the soaring interest rates on student loans have made it difficult for students who will soon seek other loans, like mortgages for purchasing homes.
  
  
• “They should not have a mortgage before they have a mortgage,” he said of college students. “I continue to make an investment that makes college more affordable.”
  
  
• Locally, Warnock said that he has advocated for funding in the CSRA to contribute to the growth of the surrounding community. “I’d like to see Augusta develop a regional tech hub,” he said. Warnock visited Augusta Technical College on the campaign trail last month.
  
  
• Recently, Warnock voted to give over $6 million to Augusta Transit that would fund new electric buses. “There’s a lot of great things coming to Augusta,” he said. Having made several trips to the region, he said, “It’s a magical city in our state.”
  
  
• As Election Day approaches next month, Warnock said he encourages young people and those who might be “on the fence” to take the opportunity to participate in the election. “If you look at every great movement in the country, young people have always been at the center,” he said.
  
  
• As Warnock prepares to face Walker in the televised debate, he said he finds it necessary to give voters the opportunity to hear candidates discuss issues. “Debates are an important part of democracy,” he said.
  
  
• The debate, which takes place Friday, Oct. 14, in Savannah, is the first and currently only debate agreed upon by both candidates. The incumbent senator said he will let his opponent speak for himself on respective issues. “There’s a sharp contrast between me and my opponent,” Warnock said.
  
  
• Warnock said his life-long passion for public service has made his work as a U.S. senator an “incredible thing”. “This is a dream job,” he said.

The Red & Black, Augusta University: Warnock meets with student journalists ahead of the election

• Sen. Raphael Warnock hosted a virtual press conference with 11 student journalists from papers throughout Georgia on Oct. 10 to answer questions about how his platform will affect college students.
  
  
• Warnock is a pastor and politician who won in a special election runoff in 2021. Now up for reelection, Warnock is hoping his Democratic stance on issues like voting rights and health care will allow him to win once again.
  
  
• Warnock said one of his main goals of the call was to address the topic of student loans, a concern that he is passionate about for students. Warnock said canceling student loans will provide “real relief” to families in need, as well as serve as a way for students to attend college without the burden of loans.
  
  
• “As senator, I’m fighting to make college more affordable for our young people,” said Warnock. “Especially Pell Grant recipients, often the first college graduate in their family and working class folks who went to technical school, vocational school or community college.”
  
  
• Andy Harris, a Morehouse College senior and editor in chief of The Maroon Tiger, asked the first question that started the discussion on the call.
  
  
• “What would you say are some of the things that keep you going on a day-to-day basis in the senate,” Harris said. “This is definitely an arduous time, especially on the campaign trail but also in Washington, D.C.”
  
  
• “Just my deep love for service,” Warnock said. “My whole life and my whole career has been committed to public service.”
  
  
• Jackson Carlstrom, Georgia Southwestern State University student and editor in chief of The Sou’Wester student newspaper, asked Warnock about any advice or tips for new, first-time voters or those on the fence about voting in the state.
  
  
• “I would say to folks who are trying to figure out which way they’re going to vote that there’s a sharp contrast between me and my opponent, I’ll let him speak for himself” said Warnock. “But I have spent my whole life dedicated to public service. First, as a pastor and now a pastor who serves in the senate.”
  

Reverend Warnock sat down with The Atlanta Voice, Georgia Asian Times, and Mundo Hispanico in Atlanta to discuss his work to support small businesses owners, lower costs, and protect jobs for all Georgians. This collaboration across three Atlanta outlets is an ongoing effort to expand coverage of ethnic communities in metro Atlanta and across Georgia. 

The Atlanta Voice: ‘I think character matters:’ Senator Warnock visits with ethnic press publishers days before debate, early voting begins

• The Atlanta Voice publisher Janis Ware, Georgia Asian Times publisher Li Wong and Mundo Now publisher Rene Alegria all sat inside The Atlanta Voice studios on royal blue chairs with gold trim.
  
  
• The three publishers and their respective publications represented millions of voters and readers that were interested in learning what that day’s special guest, Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock, wanted to say to some of the leaders in the ethnic press space days before the early voting period begins Monday.
  
  
• The opportunity for Black and brown publications to have exclusivity with a sitting United States Senator may not be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, but it is rare.
  
  
• “I’m excited because typically the ethnic media are the last ones to be called to press conferences or they are not called at all,” said Ware before the filming began. The meeting with Warnock was simultaneously aired via all three publications’ social media platforms.
  
  
• “I felt that these conversations are important because we like to hear from [Warnock] on how he is going to address the ethnic communities we represent if he is re-elected,” said Wong.
  
  
• Alegria, who came dressed similar to Warnock in a blazer, dress shirt and jeans said, “It’s about time we are able to engage in this way collectively. This collaborative is the first ever time we can engage like this for our communities.”
  
  
• Warnock spoke of his humble beginnings in Savannah and how education and strong family values helped lead him and his family to a better place in life.
  
  
• “As I think about my journey, part of that is what my family poured into me. We were short on money, but long on love, long on faith.”
  
  
• That journey he spoke of is familiar to the many Black, Asian and Hispanic voters that will begin casting their votes Monday. Those individuals and families have had to deal with a pandemic, school violence, high gas and food prices and wage disparities.
  
  
• Warnock said the work he has done in the Senate is based on his commitment to try and build a world that “embraces all of the children.” 
  
  
• “I think character matters because you can’t be something you’re not just because you got elected. I have spent my whole life committed to service. That’s the lens through which I do my work.”
  
  
• “I’m in Washington, I return to my pulpit every Sunday because here is what I know, the last thing I want to do is spend all of my time talking to politicians. I’m afraid I might become one.”
  
  
• “We have never had real change and transformation in this country without young people,” he said. “We need your impatience, we need your sense of idealism, we need your energy, and we need to hear from them to get policy right.”
  
  
• Li closed the half-hour session by asking Warnock what his definition of the American dream was. Warnock, who has two children, a daughter, 6, and a son, 4, said, “I think all of us at the end of the day want to pass on a country that’s better for our children than it was for us.”
  

Reverend Warnock hosted a meet & greet in South Atlanta where he delivered remarks and talked to voters about his continued support to protect and restore a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions, and his efforts to work across the aisle in the Senate to deliver for Georgians. 

11Alive Atlanta: Sen. Raphael Warnock believes upcoming debate will show ‘clear choice’ for Georgia voters

• Warnock, in Atlanta, took his time reminding supporters of the work he’s accomplished such as the Inflation Reduction Act and working across the aisle.
  
  
• “Creating some unlikely alliance, connecting with Ted Cruz to build out an interstate. Working with a senator from Alabama to help Georgia farmers get their products to market,” Warnock said.
  
  
• “I have spent time in that hospital visiting people in my congregation. I think about Laurie Davis, a trauma nurse who literally died, died because she didn’t have access to kind of healthcare she would have had. So, Georgia needs to expand Medicaid and I will do everything I can at the federal level to get us to do what we need to do. That’s a real gut punch to the health system in that area and it’s because of politicians playing games,” he said.
  
  
• “He (Walker) says he wants a nationwide ban on abortion with no exceptions. No exceptions, rape, incest, the life of the mother, I am a man of faith, I have a profound reverence for life, I have a deep respect for choice,” Warnock said.
  
  
• “I’m glad we’re finally having a debate,” Warnock said with a slight smile. “It took some encouraging and nudging. At the end of the day, I think Georgians will see there is a clear choice. What’s not close is the differences between me and my opponent.”
  

Watch Fox5 Atlanta’s Coverage HERE

Christine Sperow, Fox5: “Incumbent Democratic Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock was also on the trail today. Warnock hosted a meet and greet in Atlanta, and he addressed the upcoming debate between him and Walker, listen:”

Reverend Warnock: “I’m glad we’re finally having a debate. It took some encouraging and nudging, but I think debates are important for democracy, because it allows people to see, what I think here is a very clear contrast between my record and his and who’s ready to represent the people of Georgia.”

Reverend Warnock celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with CASA in Action, an organization that mobilizes Latino voters to elect leaders who support immigrants and communities of color, where he discussed his work to support Latino business owners, his support for comprehensive immigration reform, and his continued efforts to lower costs for all Georgians. 

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