Warnock stopped in Gainesville Sunday afternoon and spoke with voters on key issues.
Crowds gathered inside St. John Baptist Church on E. E. Butler Parkway and cheered as Democratic incumbent Reverend Raphael Warnock delivered his speech. He touched on many of the major issues his platform aims to address in the event he is reelected to the United States Senate. Herschel Walker is currently running against Warnock in the December 6 runoff election. Several other members of the Warnock campaign and a local pastor opened with emphatic remarks.
In the November 8 midterms, Walker obtained 48.5% of the vote, while Sen. Warnock pulled in 49.4%. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver garnered 2.1% of the vote. As no candidate was able to pass the required 50% to win, the race moved to a runoff, reminiscent of the election in 2021.
When asked how he plans to encourage voters to head to the polls again on Tuesday, Warnock said he enjoys speaking directly to citizens and hopes such interactions prove his worth.
“I'm heartened by the extraordinary early vote turnout that we saw during that period, but we can't rest—not even for one moment,” Warnock said. “We cannot take our foot off the gas, which is why you see me moving all across the state, talking directly to voters, something I enjoy doing anyway. But we need everybody to make a plan to vote—go to iwillvote.com. And make sure that you know your voting precinct because during the early period, you can vote anywhere in your county. But on election day, you have to vote in your actual precinct.”
To those voters heading to the polls who are unsure of both candidates, Warnock says his track record should provide enough to push them in his direction.
“I think we are seeing in a state, that's not known to be a split ticket state, that people have voted for me on both sides of the aisle,” Warnock. “And I think there's a reason for that. On the issue of competence and character, the differences are obvious. And they're stark. And in addition to that people have seen the amazing amount of bipartisan work I've done—enough to have me listed as the 18th most bipartisan senator in the Senate, even though I'm the most junior senator in the Senate.”
Policy issues weigh heavily on the minds of many voters heading to the polls. Warnock says that if he is reelected, he plans to first address healthcare, along with several other hot-ticket items like jobs, education and supply chain issues.
“One of the things I would like to do is to get the $35 cap that I got on insulin for folks on Medicare for people on private insurance,” Warnock said. “Because people on private insurance are struggling with the cost of insulin, insulin shouldn't be expensive.”
Warnock went on to state his concerns for Medicaid and overall opportunity across the state.
“Georgia needs to expand Medicaid, it’s a state issue,” Warnock said. “But I'm going to keep working at the federal level to make that even easier than it already is. In addition to that, I want to keep creating jobs and opportunity all across our state, strengthening our supply chain, the kinds of things for the costs that people are struggling with still in the wake of a pandemic.”
The Georiga senate runoff election will take place on December 6, and early voting ended Friday.
