Raphael Warnock is an American Baptist politician and pastor who has been Georgia’s junior senator since 2021. He is a Democrat and he took office on January 20, 2021.
In a tense runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, a passionate orator whose speech frequently connects everyday D.C. policy to a larger cause, hopes to earn a full term in the US Senate against Republican Herschel Walker.
Early Life, Family, And Education
The second-to-youngest of Pentecostal pastors Verlene and Jonathan Warnock’s twelve children, Raphael Gamaliel Warnock was born on July 23, 1969, in Savannah, Georgia. His father served in World War II and used the knowledge gained to run a salvage and repair business for automobiles.
In 1991, Warnock earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with honors from Morehouse College. He attained several advanced degrees throughout the years, including a Master of Divinity, a Master of Philosophy, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Union Theological Seminary.
In front of the congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church on New Year’s Eve 2015, Warnock proposed Ouleye Ndoye, who had long been thought of as one of Atlanta’s most eligible bachelors. On February 14, 2016, Raphael Warnock married Ouleye Ndoye in front of the public after a private wedding in January. They have two children.
The couple got divorced in November 2019 and it was finally formalized in 2020. Ndoye claimed in her divorce proceedings that Warnock had run over her foot with his car during a dispute over child custody. But Warnock denied the accusation.
He currently lives in Atlanta.
Raphael Warnock’s Religious Work
Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York served as Warnock’s first official place of worship. After that, he was appointed as senior pastor of Baltimore in Maryland’s Douglas Memorial Community Church. In 2005, he was appointed as senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, which is the former church of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Political Career
Warnock rose to prominence in Georgia politics by leading the effort to expand Medicaid in the state per the Affordable Care Act.
He declared his candidacy for the Georgia special Senate election in 2020 on January 30th, hoping to defeat Republican Kelly Loeffler, the sitting senator.
No candidate got a majority of the vote on election day, thus a runoff election was held on January 5, 2021, between Warnock and Loeffler, which Warnock won by more than 93,000 votes. The Democratic Party took back control of the Senate with his and Jon Ossoff’s victories, marking the first time since 2014.
After Zell Miller in 2000, Warnock and Ossoff were the first Democrats to be elected to the US Senate from Georgia.
Warnock is the first African American to serve as Georgia’s senator, the first Black Democrat to be elected to the senate by a former Confederate state, and the first Black senator in the South. In a second runoff election, he defeated Republican Herschel Walker to win reelection in 2022.
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Raphael Warnock’s Salary And Net Worth
Warnock was paid $275,000 annually while working at Ebenezer. Interestingly, Warnock will receive a pay cut when he joins the Senate, where the first-year senators make about $174,000.
He came under fire for his $532, & 81 total yearly salary, which more than doubled since he was elected. Warnock received $120,965 for his job as a preacher in 2021 in addition to his $164,816 senate pay, which he was able to take advantage of due to a Senate loophole. He received a $243,750 advance for his upcoming memoir, “A Way Out of No Way.”
Some people were offended by the $89,000 housing benefit he received from the church, which Warnock’s campaign referred to as a “personal parsonage allowance,” but the Senate Ethics Committee ultimately allowed it.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports that his Atlanta property is valued over $1 million.
According to the reports by Celebrity Net Worth, Raphael Warnock has an estimated net worth of $800,000.
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