Senator Raphael Warnock Mixes Politics and Preaching on Campaign Trail

ATLANTA — Raphael Warnock, the Democrat fighting for a full term in the Senate, has three jobs these days: candidate, senator and pastor.

On Sunday in Atlanta, he was working double time. First, he delivered a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he serves as senior pastor, preaching to his parishioners from the book of Acts and delivering a message about both the healing powers of God and the dangers of power-hungry politicians.

Then, at a sanctuary 15 minutes away, with his campaign bus parked out front, he spoke at a Souls to the Polls event, encouraging supporters to vote immediately after church.

Mr. Warnock both preaches and talks politics on the campaign trail, where he invokes Scripture and calls voting “a kind of prayer” before calling for Medicaid expansion and levying thinly veiled criticisms against his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker. His closing message is the same on the stump as it is in the pulpit: “Keep the faith and keep looking up.”

On Saturday Mr. Warnock addressed a group of canvassers before they knocked on doors around the Atlanta suburb of Douglasville: “I’m not a senator who used to be a pastor. You might as well know that you sent a pastor to the Senate.”

He has made blending the religious and the political a cornerstone of his campaign to highlight his belief in the need for social and political renewal. Speaking to an electorate and church community that have taken an increasingly pessimistic view of politics, he also underlines his belief that change in both arenas is still possible.

This approach has invited outsized support and scrutiny for both his candidacy and his church, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once presided.

Mr. Warnock has maintained a consistent presence at Ebenezer while in the Senate. He still presides over most Sunday services, although he has invited several guest preachers in recent weeks as Election Day nears.

He was back in the pulpit on Sunday, however, with Scripture-specific anecdotes as well as calls for Medicaid expansion and turning out to vote.

“Something happens when people find their voice,” he told the congregation, imploring them not to “mute your own voice.”

“I thank God for this record voter turnout, but don’t you let up,” he added, to a standing ovation.

Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta’s historically Black Sweet Auburn neighborhood, practices a prophetic faith tradition not unlike many Black churches, calling on its members to challenge oppressive systems and be of service to marginalized groups. The church’s national profile, though, is unmistakable: Large groups of tourists sit in the pews alongside regular churchgoers, thousands watch its services via livestream, and outside its doors anti-abortion protesters hold signs criticizing Mr. Warnock’s support for abortion access.

Mr. Warnock has been senior pastor at Ebenezer since 2005 and committed to maintaining the post from the earliest days of his 2020 special election campaign. Though he embraces politics from the pulpit and makes frequent mention of his home church on the trail, his Senate and campaign aides say that his function as a pastor operates entirely separate from his political roles.

Mr. Warnock has described himself as a “Christian progressive” in the mold of Dr. King. Republicans have seized on that posture, criticizing in particular his views on abortion, policing and the role of race and racism in American life.

In 2020, his Republican opponent, Kelly Loeffler, repeatedly called him a “radical” and used footage of his old sermons to paint him as a dangerous candidate. Black church leaders across the state quickly condemned the move, calling it offensive and an attack on Black church traditions.

This year, Republicans have zeroed in on Mr. Warnock’s professional relationship to Ebenezer by using the $7,400 monthly housing allowance he receives from the church to paint him as a self-serving politician. And Mr. Walker has also claimed that Mr. Warnock’s church had a direct hand in evicting residents with low outstanding balances at an apartment complex near downtown Atlanta that houses low-income, disabled and mentally ill residents. The building, Columbia Tower at Martin Luther King Village, is owned by MLK Village Corporation, a for-profit company with ties to Ebenezer.

No evictions have taken place at the building since 2020, according to representatives for Columbia Residential. In a statement, they described “certain circumstances” that would require the building to file a notice to a resident who has overdue rent, a process they said rarely results in eviction and removal of the resident.

“Columbia’s team works with residents through a variety of mechanisms to provide help with past due rent, as evidenced by more than $2.7 million dollars of rental assistance we have helped to secure for residents in Atlanta during the pandemic,” a representative for Columbia Residential said in a statement.

Derrick Harkins, director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said the characterization of Ebenezer as having a direct hand in the eviction notices is “just not correct.”

“He is certainly not overseeing the operational elements of a property that is part of the larger portfolio that’s under the umbrella of what Ebenezer has put together,” Mr. Harkins said of Mr. Warnock.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Warnock has responded more directly to criticism of his mixing of faith and politics. On Saturday, after a canvasser asked about such criticisms, he said he wasn’t worried about them.

“That puts me in good company,” he said. “That’s what they did to Dr. King. They challenged his Christian identity. They challenged his pastoral vocation.”