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.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“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.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount