Summary

Raphael Warnock was born in 1970 and is currently representing Georgia in the U.S. Senate. He was reelected for a full term in 2022, after having defeated in a special election in 2020 then-Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler. His seat will be up for election in 2028.

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock is an American pastor. He has been the senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since 2005. After earning a Master of Divinity, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy from Union Theological Seminary, a school affiliated with Columbia University, Warnock served as the youth pastor and then assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York.

Before becoming the senior past at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Warnock was the senior pastor at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore. From 2017 to early 2020, Reverend Warnock chaired the New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan organization focused on voter registration.

Below is Senator Raphael Warnock’s record and public positions on issues important to the Jewish community.

Senator Warnock supported the nuclear deal with Iran and has declared his commitment to “seeing a diplomatic accord that accomplishes the original goal of the JCPOA which is the prevention of a nuclear Iran.” While he argued that the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) left unaddressed issues, he expressed himself “alarmed” by the decision of the Trump administration to unilaterally withdraw from the agreement.

Senator Warnock supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has argued that any solution to the conflict “must be rooted in the protection and security of Israel’s borders, its identity as a Jewish, democratic state, a dedication to establishing Jerusalem as a shared capital, and a commitment to improving the quality of life for both the Jewish and Palestinian people.” He said that he is “deeply concerned about continued settlement expansion,” which according to him is a “threat to the two-state solution.”

He opposes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, especially due to its “antisemitic overtones and its supporters’ refusal to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.” He has argued that BDS is not a solution to improving the quality of life for all in the Middle East.

Senator Warnock supports the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Israel and has stated that conditioning U.S. security aid to Israel would be a “mistake.”