Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock greet each other onstage during the “Vote GA Blue” concert on December 28. Photo by Getty Images

By Arno Rosenfeld January 6, 2021

Raphael Warnock never shied away from the historic nature of his run to become the first Black Senator from Georgia. On the campaign trail, he regularly invoked his experience growing up in public housing before becoming minister of a prominent Black church in Atlanta before running alongside Jon Ossoff, the Jewish son of an immigrant (albeit, one from Australia), for two U.S. Senate seats.

Related: How Atlanta’s Black-Jewish political alliance helped Warnock and Ossoff

After Warnock was declared the winner in his race against Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and with Ossoff leading Sen. David Perdue early Wednesday, Warnock invoked the most famous exemplars of the Black-Jewish political coalition: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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“I think he and Dr. King are smiling in this moment,” Warnock told CNN. “We hope to make them proud.”

Arno Rosenfeld is a staff writer at the Forward. Follow him on Twitter @arnorosenfeld or email arno@forward.com.

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