At a rally Wednesday afternoon in Dalton, Georgia, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock emphasized legislation passed by the Democratic majority in the Senate - and the fact that Georgia voters gave Democrats that majority in 2021.
"Public policy you make, or fail to make, is a letter to our children," Warnock said to a crowd of more than 150 at the Mack Gaston Community Center. "And we would get more of it right if we asked ourselves each time: What do we want that letter to say?"
By sending two new senators to Washington in 2021, Georgia gave Democrats a slim Senate majority "and saved the entire country," Warnock said. The day after he was elected to the Senate on Jan. 5 of that year, the riot at the U.S. Capitol unfolded. Both days are part of who we are, he said, part of our complicated history.
"At a moment when the country was so divided, and folks was trying to stoke those old, ugly demons of division, Georgia stood up," Warnock said. "I'm a proud Georgian, I was born in this state, raised in this state, educated in this state."
(READ MORE: Senate candidate Herschel Walker rallies supporters in Ringgold)
Democrats then passed the American Rescue Plan that funded infrastructure and kept communities from having to lay off public servants, the senator said. His party also helped pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill that Warnock said will buy electric school buses and fund alternative fuel infrastructure.
There is something spiritual about infrastructure, he said, because it's something that connects us, and something we all use. Despite political differences, Warnock said he was willing to partner with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on a highway connecting military bases and emerging technology markets from Texas to Georgia.
Warnock said he first came to Dalton when he was in college, working as a peer counseling consultant to train teenagers to work with their peers to help them make responsible decisions. He said he thought about his work when he heard about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
As a pastor and man of faith, Warnock said he has a "profound reverence for life and an abiding respect for choice." A patient's room is too small a space for a woman, her doctor and the United States government, he said.
If the government was serious about life, he said it would focus on the "criminally high" rate of maternal mortality. Black women are three or four times more likely to die in or as a result of childbirth, he said, regardless of income or education.
Public policy is a letter to our children, Warnock said, returning to his theme, and he wants his letter to include a livable wage for those who work hard, a path to citizenship for the 11 million "living in the shadows," and show that income doesn't determine outcome.
(READ MORE: Georgia US Senate race will pit Walker against incumbent Warnock)
Warnock is being challenged for his Senate seat by Republican nominee Herschel Walker, a business owner and former football star. Poll aggregator RealClear Politics gives Warnock a 1.6% lead over Walker, but the most recent poll, conducted by Quinnipiac from June 23 to 27, shows Warnock with a 10- point lead.
Representatives from the Walker campaign could not be reached for comment. He told a crowd in Ringgold, Georgia, in May that he's tired of living under a Democratic administration with high gas prices and inflation on the grocery aisles.
"They're killing the American people and don't seem to care," Walker said. "People ask me why I'm running. I'm running because I'm tired of people mistreating my family."
(READ MORE: Cooper: Herschel Walker should be judged fairly, just like incumbent Raphael Warnock)
Challenging Greene
With 75.2% of the vote, Marcus Flowers won the Democratic primary for Northwest Georgia's U.S. House seat and will challenge U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the fall. In his introduction of Warnock, Flowers condemned the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and encouraged voters to help him defeat Greene.
In an interview after the rally, Flowers contrasted his military service against what he called Greene's "betrayal of her oath" asking for a pardon for her role in the Jan. 6 riot. Greene has criticized testimony at the Jan. 6 committee in Congress saying she sought a pardon.
After the rally, Gerald Tinson said he wants to see more action on a local level, "because all politics starts locally." He said Warnock does a good job listening to the people and wants to send him back to Washington to represent the Peach State.
(READ MORE: Opinion: Georgia Senate race shaping up to be a classic Southern brawl)
The presentation was "lovely," said Fred McDade, a disabled Vietnam veteran retired from a career as a school counselor. He said he's a Democrat who likes Warnock's common sense.
"I risked my life, and almost gave my life, for your freedom," McDade said.
Ray Scalise attended the rally and said it was "poignant" how Warnock pointed out that legislation is passed for our children, because what's passed now won't be built for many years. Standing with him, Debbie Sneary said she liked the senator's point about how Democrats and Republicans share roads, communities and resources.
"'I worked with Ted Cruz,'" Scalise said, quoting Warnock. "It is possible, it is possible for us to work together."
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.