During Sunday night’s Georgia senatorial runoff debate, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) asked Democratic Georgia Senate candidate Raphael Warnock if he would denounce his past statements in which he “repeatedly praised Marxism and the redistribution of income.”
“Reverend Warnock, in your writings and your teachings, you’ve repeatedly praised Marxism and the redistribution of income,” Loeffler said. “Can you here and now for all Georgians renounce socialism and Marxism?”
“Listen, I believe in our free enterprise system and my dad was a small business owner,” Warnock responded before launching into a speech about things he did as a pastor. Warnock suggested without evidence that Loeffler got her Senate seat through some sort of unethical means, saying that she “purchased that seat.”
“Well, predictably you’ve just heard more lies from radical liberal Raphael Warnock, who wants to distract from his own words, calling police officers gangsters, thugs, bullies, and a threat to our children, saying that you can’t serve God in the military, for his attacks on Israel,” Loeffler responded. “You know, what I’m focused on is making sure we continue to deliver relief. I’ve already delivered relief for 174,000 small businesses, $7 billion for hospitals, and when the government didn’t move quickly enough, I purchased PPE out of my own funds and drove it to hospitals. I donated to hospitals and I donate my salary to charities across Georgia. I’m here working for Georgia.”
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Reverend Warnock, in your writings and your teachings, you’ve repeatedly praised Marxism and the redistribution of income. Can you here and now for all Georgians renounce socialism and Marxism?
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Listen, I believe in our free enterprise system and my dad was a small business owner and during the great recession, you know what I was doing? I was leading my church to build a community center where among other things we had a financial literacy center that taught people how to repair their credit, create a 700 credit score community, how to create a business, how to buy a home, how to participate in our free enterprise system. Kelly Loeffler on the other hand, was teaching the big banks how to hide their investments offshore in the Cayman Islands. This is how she spent her career before she went to the Senate, this is what she’s been focused on now that she’s in the Senate. She was only there three weeks, I’m not sure she was fully unpacked, when she started dumping millions of dollars of stock trying to protect herself and she purchased that seat. It’s done well for her, the issue is the people who sold it to her don’t own. And the people of Georgia are coming back to get their seat.
LOEFFLER: Well, predictably you’ve just heard more lies from radical liberal Raphael Warnock, who wants to distract from his own words, calling police officers gangsters, thugs, bullies, and a threat to our children, saying that you can’t serve God in the military, for his attacks on Israel. You know, what I’m focused on is making sure we continue to deliver relief. I’ve already delivered relief for 174,000 small businesses, $7 billion for hospitals, and when the government didn’t move quickly enough, I purchased PPE out of my own funds and drove it to hospitals. I donated to hospitals and I donate my salary to charities across Georgia. I’m here working for Georgia.
This article has been revised for clarity.