Raphael Warnock
“These votes send a message that is concerning to the Jewish community about how our senators think about safety and security for the state of Israel,” Dov Wilker, of the AJC’s Atlanta office, told JNS.
The incumbent defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker with razor-thin margins in a runoff election.
Will not having control of the Senate in question be demobilizing for Republican voters?
Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker have both been endorsed by pro-Israel organizations.
He will serve a full six-year term, while fellow incoming Sen. Raphael Warnock will be up for re-election in 2022.
Wendy Sherman, the lead negotiator for the United States in reaching the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, is likely to be nominated as U.S. deputy secretary of state.
With his victory, Rev. Raphael Warnock becomes the first African-American elected to the Senate from Georgia.
American Jewish groups from both sides of the aisle have invested heavily in the Jan. 5 runoffs, as they see stark differences on the candidates’ policies on topics such as the U.S.-Israel relationship, the Iran nuclear deal, anti-Semitism and more.
Atlanta’s Jewish community is the largest in the South, with around 120,000 Jews. And right now, it’s the center of attention as the country moves closer to Jan. 5.
“If you don’t have a Palestinian state, you cannot have a Jewish democracy,” said Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is running for one of two U.S. Senate seats representing the state of Georgia.
Circulated by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, the group penned a letter saying “they reject the baseless claims and attacks targeting him amid this Senate election.”
As the fate of the U.S. Senate rests on two run-off elections in Georgia, GOP control of the Senate could block nominees to the executive branch, including Cabinet members in a Biden administration, who may be hostile towards Israel.
