U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia landed a primetime speaking slot on the first day of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, using it to honor President Joe Biden’s accomplishments, lambast former President Donald Trump and give a vision for what the U.S. would look like under a President Kamala Harris.
Warnock, who leads the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, often melded his roles as pastor and politician in the 14-minute address. He thanked his family and Georgia voters for electing him to the Senate in 2021 and to a full term in 2022.
“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together,” he said.
But Warnock devoted much of his speech to Trump, calling him “a man too small for the office entrusted him or the task set before him.”
He cited Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, saying they led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and ensuing restrictions on voting rights in Georgia and elsewhere.
“The lie and the logic of Jan. 6 is a sickness,” Warnock said. “It is a kind of cancer that then metastasized into dozens of voter suppression laws all across our country.”
He said the 2024 election is a choice between “the promise of Jan. 5 and the peril of Jan. 6.”
“Donald Trump’s America is the America of Jan. 6,” Warnock said. “Donald Trump is a plague on the American conscience.”
Read this story now for free
To continue reading, sign up for our newsletter and get unlimited access to WABE.org
You can select your preferences for news and local content. We will never share your email address. Learn how your newsletter sign-up will support WABE and Public Media
