Raphael Gamaliel Warnock[1] (/ˈrɑːfiɛl ˈwɔːrnɒk/ RAH-fee-el WOR-nok; born July 23, 1969) is an American Baptist pastor and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia since 2021.

[6][7] Their elections were critical in securing a 50-50 Senate majority for Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote.

[20][21] He credits his participation in the Upward Bound program for making him college-ready, as he was able to enroll in early college courses through Savannah State University.

[22][23][17] Warnock began his ministry as an intern and licentiate at the Sixth Avenue Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama,[25] under the civil rights movement leader John Thomas Porter.

[31][32] He and an assistant minister were arrested and charged with obstructing a 2002 police investigation into suspected child abuse at a summer camp run by the church.

[33] The charges were later dropped with the deputy state's attorney's acknowledgment that it had been a "miscommunication", adding that Warnock had aided the investigation and that prosecution would be a waste of resources.

[30] In March 2019, Warnock hosted an interfaith meeting on climate change at his church, featuring Al Gore and William Barber II.

Some conservative Christians and political commentators criticized the tweet, including Benjamin Watson, Allie Beth Stuckey, and Jenna Ellis, who called it "heretical".

[49] In 2013, he wrote an editorial for the Atlanta Journal Constitution that criticized Governor Nathan Deal for not supporting an integrated prom at the Wilcox County High School.

[54] In 2015, Warnock considered running in the 2016 election for the United States Senate seat held by Johnny Isakson as a member of the Democratic Party.

[56][57] From June 2017 to January 2020, Warnock chaired the New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan organization founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams and focused on increasing voter registration.

The New Georgia Project raised and spent millions of dollars in its partisan efforts and failed to disclose its activities or properly register as an independent political committee.

[67] In January 2020, Warnock decided to run in the 2020 special election for the United States Senate seat held by Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed after Johnny Isakson's resignation.

[69] He was endorsed by Democratic senators Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley, Chris Murphy, Bernie Sanders, Brian Schatz, and Elizabeth Warren; the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; Stacey Abrams; and former presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter.

[74] The closing argument of Warnock's campaign focused on the $2,000 stimulus payments that he and Ossoff promised to approve if they were elected and thus gave Democrats a U.S. Senate majority.

[85][86][87] On February 13, 2021, Warnock voted to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

[114] He unsuccessfully attempted to stop the execution of death-row inmate Troy Davis, who had been convicted of the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia.

[124] After attending a groundbreaking at Hyundai's electric vehicle plant in Savannah, Georgia alongside Governor Brian Kemp, Warnock told reporters that climate policy is a "moral" issue.

"[130] In October 2021, Warnock and Ossoff said that they had obtained federal funding under the American Rescue Plan for health centers across Georgia, including two in Macon and four in Albany, each of which received between $500,000 to $1,100,000.

"[131] A bipartisan bill on maternal health by Warnock and Senator Marco Rubio was incorporated into a $1.5 trillion federal spending package that passed Congress in March 2022.

[134] Republican lawmakers removed a third proposal by Warnock that would have imposed a $35 monthly limit on out-of-pocket insulin costs for people on private insurance.

[144][145] In September 2021, Warnock worked together with Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith to introduce legislation designating September 19 to 25 as Gold Star Families Remembrance Week nationwide, to honor sacrifices made by families of servicemen who died serving the United States; the legislation passed the Senate unanimously.

[146] In November 2021, a bill of Warnock's was enacted that approved a government study into whether there were racial disparities in benefits provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

He was again critical of the new election laws passed in his home state, calling it a "full-fledged assault on voting rights, unlike anything we seen since the era of Jim Crow.

[153][154] While he was assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church, Warnock opposed New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's workfare reforms.

Warnock emphasized the struggle for human dignity and the Palestinians' right to self-determination, while also advocating for a two-state solution where "all of God's children can live together".

This statement compared the West Bank's heavy militarization to apartheid South Africa's occupation of Namibia, highlighting concerns about the viability of a two-state solution given these conditions.

Warnock has also expressed a commitment to working toward ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon and has voiced his opposition to conditioning U.S. assistance to Israel.

In a statement, he called the violence "heinous" and emphasized the importance of seeking a "lasting peace grounded in justice and human dignity for all of God's creatures.

He called for a negotiated ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, the release of hostages, and opening humanitarian corridors to aid Gaza, and he underscored the need for a two-state solution based on peace, security, and self-determination for both peoples.