Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who won his seat in early 2021 but has to run again to obtain a full, six-year term, has now reported a staggering fundraising total for the first quarter of this year. Throughout the quarter, he brought in $13.6 million, and he ended the quarter with $25.6 million in cash on-hand as the high-stakes midterm elections approach. As explained this week by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Warnock’s “campaign said Thursday it was the most money ever raised by any U.S. Senate candidate in the first quarter of an election year.” His preceding single-quarter fundraising total was millions below the level he reached in the first few months of this year: in 2021’s final quarter, Warnock raised $9.8 million. Quentin Fulks, the Georgia Senator’s campaign manager, commented as follows:
‘Georgians see Reverend Warnock fighting to lower costs for hardworking families, and they’re ready to send him back to the Senate… From fighting to cap the cost of insulin and lower prices at the gas pump to pushing for student loan debt relief, Reverend Warnock’s commitment to serving the people of Georgia continues to drive the biggest grassroots fundraising effort in any Senate race this cycle.’
Raphael Warnock's Senate campaign has announced a $13.6 million fundraising haul in Q1 of 2022, which the campaign says is "the most money ever raised by an U.S. Senate candidate in the first quarter of an election year."
Sen. Warnock's campaign has $25.6 million cash on hand.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 15, 2022
Warnock won his seat by a small margin — finishing about two percent, or under 94,000 votes, ahead — so it seems safe to assume that the upcoming election might also be decided by a small number of votes. Warnock’s fellow Georgia Democratic Senator, Jon Ossoff, who won his seat at the same juncture, ended up in the Senate after beating his Republican challenger by an even smaller margin: David Perdue, who’d been the incumbent, lost by fewer than 55,000 votes. Warnock’s seat seems like one of the most vulnerable nationwide among those that are on the ballot this year, and it’s among those rated by the Cook Political Report as a “toss-up” ahead of the midterms.
All Georgians deserve access to good health services, no matter their zip code.
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) April 14, 2022
Warnock appears set to run against Republican and former football player Herschel Walker, who a recent report from The Daily Beast reveals seems to be a serial liar regarding his business endeavors. In February, he claimed to have “started this little… drapery company, where I still have about 250 people that sew drapery and bedspreads for me.” In reality, the company — which Walker has referred to as both Renaissance Manufacturing and Renaissance Hospitality, both of which no longer exist — doesn’t seem to have been started or legitimately owned by him in any legally meaningful sense, and again, both entities that he’s named don’t even exist anymore. Walker has described another company, Renaissance Man Foods, as “the largest minority-owned food company in the United States,” which doesn’t seem to be true according to any reasonable estimation. In a February 24 interview, he said: “Well, people need to know about me. They know I’m a winner. They know what I work. Well, people need to know I started a company. People just think of me as a football player. I started a company that became the largest minority-owned food company in the United States.” In fact, he did no such thing. He’d fit right in among Senate Republicans considering all that apparent lying.
My Gas Prices Relief Act would guarantee that savings at the pump make their way to Georgia drivers.
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) April 14, 2022
