Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock drew parallels from Georgia’s complex history to his own life and deep roots in the state during his victory speech Tuesday night after CNN projected he won the runoff race.
He noted that his mother grew up in the 1950’s in Waycross, Georgia, “picking somebody else’s cotton and somebody else’s tobacco — but tonight she helped pick her youngest son to be a United State’s senator.”
Warnock went on to say that he watched his late father “a pastor and a small business man, take care of his family by working really hard with his hands.”
“I am a proud son of Savannah, Georgia,” he told his supporters.
He continued: “A coastal city known for its verdant town squares and cobblestone streets — tall, majestic oak trees. Dripping with Spanish moss. Bend and back in the love of history and horticulture to this city by the sea. My roots, like the roots of those oak tree’s go deep down into the soil of Savannah and Waycross and Screven County and Burke County. I am Georgia. I am an example and an iteration of its history. Of its pain and promise, the brutality and the possibility. But because this is America. And because we always have a path to make our country greater against unspeakable odds, here we stand together. Thank you Georgia.”
As Warnock becomes the state’s first Black senator to win a full term, Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic tie-breaking role in the Senate will likely be less necessary because of the additional vote.
CNN’s Jasmine Wright contributed reporting to this post.
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