Warnock on Kamala Harris candidacy: ‘My bet is on the prosecutor’

What will it take for Georgia to vote for another Democratic presidential candidate?

That was the burning question Monday after the weekend during which President Joe Biden decided to not run for re-election and instead support Vice President Kamala Harris. Given that Georgia’s junior senator and Savannah’s hometown political hero Rev. Raphael Warnock was in town, he was the oracle to whom The Current addressed that question.

“I know a couple of things about winning in Georgia. I have run several races here, and I think that you have to center the people,” said Warnock.

“The problem with our politics right now is that too often the politics is about the politicians,” he said. “This has been an interesting ride, right, over the last few months. We are going to see a much shorter presidential season. Americans will have a decision to make. Georgians will have a decision to make and fewer months to make it. I think that is going to be an interesting exercise. But I’m all in with Kamala Harris. Here is somebody who has broken many glass ceilings, She is a very able prosecutor. She is used to making the case against criminals.. And it will be interesting to see her make that case over the next four months. My bet is on the prosecutor.”

The senator believes Georgia is definitely in play — and that the wide-ranging civically engaged coalition of voters in Georgia, both Black Georgians and women, will be the special ingredient to help the vice president win in November.

There’s no question that Black women are the most loyal members of the Democratic base. But not just Black women, all the people I’m talking to are excited about what she represents,” he said of Harris. “One of the reasons that make me a proud Democrat, my bipartisan work notwithstanding, is the breadth of our coalition. You saw that convention all last week. Wait until you see ours. The juxtaposition will be striking.”

Warnock spent his Monday touring the workforce training facility run by Savannah Technical College to build an educated workforce for Gulfstream and examining the blueprints for the much-awaited new emergency services center for Chatham County. He couldn’t stay away from the politics of the day, however, or the political forecasts for the next four months.

Pulling away from the Gulfstream event Monday morning, Warnock told The Current that he’s ready to dig in and help Harris get elected. “I will do whatever it takes, including knocking on doors,” he said.

Other local Democrats also jumped into the growing national coalition supporting Harris — and praising the president for putting aside his personal ambitions to ensure that his party had the strongest chance to win in November.

Adot Whitely, who is the head of Chatham County’s Democratic Party and running for re-election as a county commissioner this fall, blasted his Facebook followers with a message brimming with excitement that speaks to one of Harris’ strongest voting bases in Georgia and through the nation: the vaunted alumna network from the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.

“If you pledged AKA, denounced AKA, are perping AKA or gone to an interest meeting … married an AKA, dated an AKA, slid in an AKA’s DMs or lied saying you ‘dated’ an AKA knowing dog gone well you didn’t … Get up and put your shoes on! It’s time to go to work for Kamala Harris,” he wrote.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who is a member of the Democratic National Committee attending the party’s convention next month in Chicago,  said he’s “eagerly” anticipating making Harris the formal candidate for the party. He, like other Democrats in Georgia, made sure to pay respects to President Biden, someone that Johnson praised as having led “a transformative administration that has significantly benefited millions of Americans.”

The Tide brings news and observations from The Current’s staff.