ATLANTA — Georgia Democratic Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock will still preach from Martin Luther King Jr.’s pulpit after he’s sworn in as his state’s first black senator.
“The last thing I want to do is become disconnected from the community and just spend all of my time talking to the politicians. I might accidentally become one,” Warnock told CNN on Wednesday.
Warnock isn’t the first preacher to keep his day job after being elected to the Senate. Missouri Republican Sen. John Danforth, who was in the chamber from 1977 to 1995, is an ordained Episcopal priest.
Warnock has been the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the pastoral home of King, since 2005.
Being a member of the clergy, though, carries political risks. Republicans are often criticized for infusing their politics with religion. And this weekend, Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a United Methodist minister, was mocked for opening Congress with a prayer that ended with “amen and a-woman.”
Cleaver defended his “amen” pun based on the Hebrew word meaning “so be it.”
“I concluded with a lighthearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female chaplain of the House of Representatives, whose service commenced this week,” Cleaver told his hometown paper, the Kansas City Star, on Monday.
After being named the winner of his special election against incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Warnock told NBC on Wednesday that he didn’t anticipate waiting long before taking his oath of office.
“I expect to serve in just a few days in the United States Senate,” he said.
Loeffler, a millionaire former businesswoman, has yet to concede. The Associated Press called the race for Warnock at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday. At the time, he had a 40,000-vote lead and 50.6% support to Loeffler’s 49.4%, with 97% of precincts reporting.
