Raphael Warnock dismisses controversy over past sermon remarks as 'distraction'

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Loeffler, Warnock to face off in debate Sunday

Debate moderator Russ Spencer tells ‘America’s Newsroom’ he will make sure the Georgia Senate runoff candidates get equal time and give them a chance to respond to recent attacks on each other.

Rev. Raphael Warnock, the top Democratic candidate in a heated runoff race for a Georgia Senate seat, is calling criticism over his past sermons a distraction with the election about one month away.

Warnock has served as a senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since 2005, which is the same church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached.

His competitor – Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler – has taken aim at some of Warnock’s sermons, dubbing him the “most radical and dangerous candidate in America.”

“I’m glad that Kelly Loeffler is listening to my sermons and she should listen to more of them,” Warnock said in response, as reported by the Ledger-Enquirer. “This to me is a distraction, and she is engaged in it, because she cannot defend her record.”

He echoed those sentiments in a recent Twitter post.

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In one instance, for example, Loeffler and Republicans zeroed in on a 2011 sermon where Warnock said no one can serve “God and the military.”

Loeffler and Warnock are scheduled to square off in a runoff debate on Sunday in Atlanta.

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Loeffler was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to fill former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat in January.

Since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in November, the top two candidates are competing in the runoff election on Jan. 5.

President-elect Joe Biden won the state of Georgia, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so since former President Bill Clinton in 1992.

In the state, both Senate seats are still up for grabs.