GEORGIA, December 1, 2022—Georgia voters are going to the polls for the second time to elect
In April 2022, the Republican National Committee put pressure on Act-Blue (an American nonprofit technology organization established in June 2004 that enables left-leaning nonprofits, Democratic candidates, and progressive groups to raise money from individual donors on the Internet – to ’empower small-dollar donors’) to follow its precedent of kicking out Democrats accused of misconduct toward women or minors and to boot U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock from its fundraising platform after Warnock’s ex-wife, Ouleye Ndoye, accused Warnock of running over her foot with his car during a disagreement. She also accused him of violating their custody agreement by refusing to pay child care expenses and leaving her ‘financially strapped’ by skipping out on his visitation days. In addition, she claimed Warnock has refused to return personal items that were awarded to her in their divorce agreement. Warnock denied the claims.
Raphael Warnock and Camp Child Abuse
Warnock also faces allegations of child abuse occurring at a church camp overseen by him. He was arrested in 2002 over accusations of obstructing a child abuse investigation at a Camp Farthest Out in Carroll County, Maryland. Breitbart News reported that Warnock and another minister interrupted a police interview of a camp counselor in 2002 and tried to prevent one camper from directing police to other potential witnesses. Warnock’s campaign spokesperson claimed that Warnock was simply “protecting the rights of young people to make sure they had a lawyer or a parent when being questioned.”
Records from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene indicated that campers were routinely left unsupervised; staffers were not subject to the required criminal background check; and at least five cases of child abuse or neglect were brought against the camp’s director, who was ultimately forced to resign.
Warnock Avoids Evictions and Child Abuse Questions
“What we are doing right now is soul work,” Warnock said at Liberty International Church southwest of downtown, where he rallied supporters before leading a march to a nearby early voting site where he cast his ballot. “We are engaged in a political exercise,” Warnock continued, “but this is moral and spiritual work, and for us that has always been based on the foundation of the church.”
Warnock has not looked at his own moral and spiritual work as a leader of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s former church, Ebenzer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Warnock’s church evicts the homeless, but “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you,” in Matthew 5:42, and in James it says, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.”
Warnock led Walker by about 37,000 votes out of about 4 million cast in the general election but fell short of the majority required under Georgia law, triggering a four-week runoff. Warnock first won the seat as part of concurrent Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, 2021, when he and Sen. Jon Ossoff prevailed over Republican incumbents to give Democrats narrow control of the Senate for the start of President Joe Biden’s tenure. Warnock won a special election and now is seeking a full six-year term.
Walker is seeking his first term. This time the U.S. Senate control remains a critical issue. With a Walker win, the U.S. Senate will be split 50/50. In order for President Joe Biden’s to get his agenda through the U.S. Senate, the Democrats must have 50 votes.
With Senator Joe Manchin (D-WVA) seeking re-election, that makes it difficult for US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to get the parties agenda through the US Senate. U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is also a red flag US Senator. She doesn’t rubber stamp the Democratic Party’s platform. The two leading Democratic moderates made it clear to their colleagues last summer that the party’s economic package is far from secured, raising questions about the fate of President Biden’s first-term agenda.
“As of late Sunday, almost 200,000 ballots had been cast in the relative handful of counties that opted to have weekend voting. The first day of statewide early voting on Monday added at least 250,000 more, the largest in-person early voting day in Georgia history, according to Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling. That’s included long lines in several heavily Democratic counties of metro Atlanta, enough to give Democrats confidence that their core supporters remain excited to vote for Warnock. But the total remains a fraction of the nearly 2.3 million early in-person voters ahead of the Nov. 8 general election,” wrote AP News.
Warnock campaigned in Cobb County earlier this week. One of his supporters said “When you go home, please tell all your friends that were like, on the fence, to get on the correct side of the fence.” Warnock did not mentioned the evicted citizens who were evicted on the other side of the fence at Ebenzer Baptist Church. Warnock also did not mention to the thousands of single and married moms who have children who have been abused in Georgia.
“In 2020, Georgia had 110,227 total referrals for child abuse and neglect. Of those, 62,675 were referred for investigation. There were 8,690 child victims of abuse or neglect in Georgia in 2020, at a rate of 3.5 children per 1,000. This translates to an 12.5% decrease since 2016. Of the 8,690 children, 7,156
were first time victims. The largest age group of victims was children under one, representing 1,599 of the 8,690 cases,” according to a Georgia’s Children 2022 study.
Warnock has avoided mentioning the number of child fatalities and that the numbers increased in
2020 from 68 in 2019 to 885 in 2020. Georgia reported 39 total child victims of sex trafficking, 6,431 victims received post-response services while 78,734 non-victims received post-response services as well.
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Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2022). Child Maltreatment 2020. Report from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System: Table 2-1: Screened-In and Screened-Out Referrals, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2022 from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/cm2020.pdf
