Former President Obama celebrated Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock’s (D) victory in Tuesday’s Senate runoff election, saying fellow Georgian the late Rep. John Lewis “is surely smiling down” on the Peach State.
Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, will be the first Black senator from Georgia. He was projected to win his runoff election against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) early Wednesday morning.
The former president had hit the campaign trail for Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and he appeared in several campaign ads for Warnock.
Ossoff is currently leading in his race against Republican David Perdue, though the race has not yet been called.
“My friend John Lewis is surely smiling down on his beloved Georgia this morning, as people across the state carried forward the baton that he and so many others passed down to them,” Obama said in a statement posted to social media.
Multiple Democratic lawmakers also paid tribute to Lewis, who died last summer, after Warnock was projected to win over Loeffler.
The former president, who gave a eulogy at the civil rights legend’s funeral, also thanked former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, whose efforts to register and turn out voters is being credited with helping Democrats come within reach of winning both runoff races.
“I want to congratulate Reverend Raphael Warnock on his election as Georgia’s next U.S. Senator — and while we’re still waiting on final results in the other runoff, is clear that last night’s showing, alongside President-elect Biden’s November victory in Georgia, is a testament to the power of the tireless and often unheralded work of grassroots organizing and the resilient, visionary leadership of Stacey Abrams,” Obama wrote.
He called on Americans to stay “engaged in civic life,” adding that continuing progress “depend on us vigilantly honoring the precious, sometimes fragile gift of the American experiment.”
“If we want to protect the gains we’ve made, achieve even more progress in the years to come, and reinforce the foundations of self-governance on which our country rests, there’s no better to follow than the one forged by the determined, organized, and confidently hopeful people of Georgia,” he continued.