Georgia Senator-elect ReverendRaphael Warnock will be the state's first Black senator.- Warnock is also the senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, preaching at a pulpit once helmed by
Martin Luther King Jr. - Insider spoke to
Martin Luther King III about Warnock's historic victory, and his connection to the "King tradition" at the church.
Georgia's new Senator-elect Reverend Raphael Warnock has already made history.
He'll be Georgia's first Black senator. He's part of a newly purple Georgia (a shift happening thanks in no small part to work by leaders like Stacey Abrams). And, 15 years ago, he was named the youngest ever senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Martin Luther King III - the son of Martin Luther King Jr. - has a strong familial connection to Warnock's church. Martin Luther King Jr. preached there, as did Martin Luther King Sr., King III's grandfather.
In an interview with Insider after Warnock's historic election, King III highlighted the work that Warnock had already been doing at Ebenezer Baptist prior to making political history.
Warnock has been arrested twice protesting healthcare cuts, once at the Georgia state Capitol and once at the US Capitol. He's also been an advocate for criminal justice reform.
"He was working on a number of issues in the church as pastor. Now he is in a position to vote in the United States Senate, to actually have a tremendous, phenomenal impact," King III said. "He had an impact on the outside from an external standpoint as a pastor, but now he will be helping to dictate and determine what policy is, which is quite amazing."
King III said it's "not often" a pastor joins the house or senate, and Warnock comes out of the "King tradition."
Warnock's victory is part of a turning tide in Georgia - and for the nation
When reached for comment by Insider, Warnock's campaign highlighted his election night remarks, when Warnock said that he was "a son of my late father who was a pastor, a veteran and a small businessman and my mother who, as a teenager growing up in Waycross, Georgia, used to pick somebody's else's cotton.
But the other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States senator."
On January 10, Warnock delivered his first sermon after his historic victory - and the violent insurrection on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. It had over 20,000 viewers on Ebenezer Baptist's website and around 8,800 views on Facebook. He touched on the violence of the siege, in which he said "the ugly side of our story, our great and grand American story" had once again emerged.
But he also touched on the historicity of Georgia electing him and Jon Ossoff, Georgia's first Jewish senator and the son of an immigrant.
"You must know that this is a glimpse of God's vision of a more inclusive humanity that embraces all of God's children," Warnock said. "I'm just grateful to be a part of this."
Warnock and Ossoff's respective victories meant Georgia itself made history, flipping the senate, giving Democrats hugely consequential control of both legislative chambers as Democratic President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.
King III said Georgia is a state in transition, and the immense grassroots organizing effort there has created a model for other states.
"My view is this can be duplicated in a number of cities around the South, certainly in the state of North Carolina," King III said. "I think it can ultimately be duplicated in Mississippi. I think that parts of it can be duplicated in Alabama and South Carolina, just to name a few."
With more people moving into the Atlanta metro area - who King III said are more "progressive" and "open-minded" - he believes that Georgia will ultimately become a solid blue state. As FiveThirtyEight reported, some Democrats hope that Georgia will follow a similar trajectory to Virginia, which flipped blue in 2008 and has voted largely Democratic since.
Warnock's work as a pastor, and the history he'll bring with him to the Senate, could also help continue Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.
"I think some would say it's an extension of what my father - I won't say would have done - but maybe would've wanted to see," King III said.