Loeffler vs. Warnock Senate Race: What You Need to Know About the First Georgia Senate Battle

Just like David Perdue and Jon Ossoff, Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock are also up to grab the US Senate seat on January 5, 2021. This Loeffler vs. Warnock race is also equally important as the Perdue vs. Ossoff Senate race, as both of these seats combined will decide the Senate majority for the next two years.

After Johnny Isakson’s retirement, Kelly Loeffler was appointed as his replacement by the governor of Georgia. Now, the runoffs will decide if Loeffler continues for the next two years or Democrat Warnock survives the Senate runoff election.

Republican nominee Kelly Loeffler is a business figure turned into a politician, while Democratic nominee Warnock is a church pastor.

The policy approaches of both of these candidates primarily revolve around their own party’s vision as Kelly Loeffler promotes conservatism, and Warnock is a rather liberal politician.

Who is Kelly Loeffler, and who is Raphael Warnock? What policies will they pursue once they reach the Senate? What are the polls suggesting? Let’s have a look. 

Republican Kelly Loeffler: A Businesswoman Turned Politician

Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler is a graduate of the University of Illinois and earned her MBA from DePaul University. 

Like her colleague David Perdue, who is also running in another Senate runoff from Georgia, Loeffler comes from a business background. She moved to Georgia in 2002 and worked as an executive head at Intercontinental Exchange. 

She is also a co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. Loeffler is the richest Senate member as she and her husband hold a net worth of $500 million. Loeffler is the first woman from Georgia to become a member of the Senate.

Considering these facts, if she wins the Loeffler vs. Warnock Senate race, she will be one of the first of her types to enter the United States Senate.

Democrat Raphael Warnock:  A Pastor Cum Politician 

Raphael Warnock is a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church holds historical significance, as it was the place where Martin Luther King Jr. held the same position as Warnock.

 Warnock had a humble beginning as he grew up with eleven siblings in Savannah and graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta with a degree in Psychology.

He also has a Master’s of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Like Loeffler, Democrat Raphael Warnock will be the first Black from Georgia to get in the Senate if he wins. 

In this regard, this Loeffler vs. Warnock’s race will be different as both candidates are one of their types.

 

 

Position of Candidates on Key Issues

How will each candidate after this Loeffler vs. Warnock election work for the progress of the United States in different domains? Let’s have a look.

 

Healthcare: A Hot Policy to Pursue

• Democrat Raphael Warnock is a firm supporter of the Obamacare Act and wants to protect, improve, and build upon the Affordable Care Act.

 

• Republican Kelly Loeffler supports lawsuits to end the ACA and terms the Affordable Care Act as an attack on liberty. 

 

Climate Change

Climate Change has become a deciding factor in the politics of most countries.

• Warnock believes that it is a serious threat to humanity. He opines that we should set our goals to reduce carbon emissions and implement robust climate standards.

 

• However, Loeffler is silent on climate change. Her companies lobbied for cap and trade when they would likely have gotten contracts to administer it.

 

Court Appointments Amid Amy Coney Barrett’s Nomination

• Like any other Republican, Kelly Loeffler also supports Donald Trump in his legal efforts. She believed that Donald Trump had every right to pick a justice for the Supreme Court and other courts in the country. So, she supported the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett after the passing of Ruth Ginsberg.

 

• Warnock believes that court appointments should be driven according to the choice of the people. So, like many Democrats, he opposed Trump’s decision.

 

Coronavirus Crisis

COVID-19 was a deciding factor in the 2020 presidential election. The poorly administered healthcare system was one of the reasons for the Trump election loss. In COVID-19 matters, the responses of these two candidates also revolve mostly along their party lines.

 

• Loeffler believes that President Trump and his administration provided an effective response to COVID-19. She voiced that Trump introduced many bills in Congress to help people avert the coronavirus crisis. However, like the Republican’s policy in general, this opinion is also not driven by facts and statistics.

 

• Warnock sees the response of both Donald Trump and Georgia’s Governor as a total failure regarding the coronavirus crisis. He voiced that he will help people deal with the health crisis while simultaneously assisting small businesses with relief packages.

 

Immigration

• Loeffler wants to hold illegal immigrants accountable for illegally entering the United States. She also co-sponsored a bill in the Senate that will stop immigrants from getting a driver’s license and set fines for those who illegally enter the United States. 

 

• Warnock believes that immigrants should be provided with a dignified path to citizenship. He thinks that no one has the right to celebrate the American dream when we do not allow the dreamers to fulfill their dream.

 

Fundamental Human Rights of Abortion, Minimum Wage, and LGBTQ

• Loeffler is an anti-abortion activist and wants to see abortion banned. She has supported four bills for the protection of unprotected children. She has no sstted opinion on minimum wage and opposes LGBTQ rights. 

 

• Warnock believes that it should be the mother’s choice to bring a child into this world. According to him, $7.50 per hour is not a living wage, and he will fight to increase the minimum wage once he enters the Senate. He also promises to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in housing, employment, and finances. 

 

Defunding the Police Approach

Both candidates agree not to pursue defunding the police. Loeffler has also co-sponsored a resolution,” Back the Blues,” in support of police officers during the BLM uprising. 

Warnock also does not support defunding the police, but he still believes that the department needs reforms.

Loeffler vs. Warnock Senate Runoff Election: The Polls and Predictions

According to early-voting data trackers Georgia votes, more than 2.5 million ballots have been cast for both the Senate runoff races in Georgia.

According to data compiled by FiveThirtyEight, Democratic candidate Warnock is ahead of Loeffler by 0.6 points. The Democrats had 48.3 percent support as compared to 47.6 percent of Republicans.

Another survey conducted by Insider Advantage and FOX 5 Atlanta shows Warnock leading by almost two percentage points. Four percent of voters have not decided yet.

Warnock was also showing a lead in polls conducted by Reconnect Research in partnership with Probolsky Research. The study included over 1000 registered voters, 43 percent of whom supported Warnock, against 42 percent who supported Loeffler. 

Additionally, betting odds also show that the Republican leadership in Georgia has evaporated. According to PredictIT, Democrat Raphael Warnock is favored to win the Senate race. Oddsmakers still expect that Republicans will win at least one seat to maintain control of the Senate. However, these odds have tightened after Christmas.

So, Loeffler Vs. Warnock contest is also too close to call.

Republican Playing Dirty Games: A Poor Republican Strategy to Launch Personal Attacks

To win the Senate runoff, Republicans are attacking Warnock by portraying him as a radical candidate. Loeffler termed the Democrat candidate, who is a pastor in the Church, as a radical liberal thirteen times in her debate recently.

Her attacks followed the pattern of the United States president as he played a video in Valdosta, which compares Warnock with Jeremiah Wright. Jeremiah Wright is also a pastor from Chicago whose comments drew scrutiny to his relationship with former President Obama. 

Similar criticism was witnessed by other Georgia Republicans, who spent more time attacking Warnock then Ossoff. It seems that Republicans are presuming an easy win by David Perdue. 

However, the election between David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossify will be equally challenging for Republicans. 

Republicans are trying to charge racist sentiments by spotlighting Warnock as a Black candidate and linking him to Georgia’s most prominent African-American Democrat, Stacey Abrams. 

As the Georgia Senate runoffs near, the stakes are also increasing for each candidate to win the seat.

Both the contests are bound to be promising, but this race of Loeffler vs. Warnock draws much more attention owing to the unprecedented nature of the candidates.