Republicans target ‘radical Raphael’ Warnock in Georgia runoff

Image via AP

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is laser-locked on Georgia’s Senate runoff, and launched a website attack on a “radical” Democratic candidate Friday.

The alliteratively-titled RadicalRaphael.com features full-throated condemnations of the Atlanta Reverend Raphael Warnock, a pastor currently in a runoff challenge to U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to the seat.

The rhetorical flourishes and the stout-voiced condemnation of Warnock’s “anti-American values” on the NRSC microsite will feel familiar to those who have followed the last two election cycles in Florida, with the battle against “socialism” driving strong GOP performances in both 2018 and 2020.

“Radical Raphael Warnock was educated by Marxists, praised by socialists, and even welcomed Communist leader, Fidel Castro, to his church. He defended Jeremiah Wright’s “God Damn America” agenda, decried the right to life and the 2nd Amendment, and proudly touts his support of organizations that want to destroy the nuclear family and undermine our longstanding support of Israel,” claims the copy.

The site reminds Peach State voters of ties between a former church Warnock pastored and its decision to host former Cuban strongman Fidel Castro after he visited the United Nations in 1995.

Other attacks are substantiated on the website, including fiery words Warnock had criticizing the U.S. decision to move its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“The administration opened up the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Standing there the President’s family and the few mealy mouth evangelical preachers, who are responsible for the mess that we found ourselves in both there and here,” Warnock preached in 2018.

Elsewhere, the site takes liberties, including describing Warnock as a “domestic abuser,” spotlighting a newspaper account of a fight with his wife in which she alleged he drove his car over her foot.

Warnock attempted to preempt Republican attacks on him with an ad that warned Georgians to “get ready… the negative ads are coming.”

“Kelly Loeffler doesn’t want to talk about why she’s for getting rid of healthcare in the middle of a pandemic, so she’s going to try to scare you with lies about me,” Warnock said in the spot.

However, Republicans clearly have a number of lines of attack, and the ad war on Georgia and North Florida airwaves stands to reflect a lot of this oppo.

Republicans have presented Loeffler and Senate colleague David Perdue as a slate, and the new chairman of the NRSC, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, will be in Georgia Friday afternoon for a “Defend the Majority” rally.