Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-GA) campaign is covered in controversy stemming from his church’s apartment building, his personal life, and his campaign spending habits, with less than three weeks until his runoff election in Georgia against Republican Herschel Walker.
Although Warnock earns a $7,417 monthly housing allowance from Ebenezer Baptist Church, the low-income apartment building his church owns is reportedly threatening to evict tenants for as little as $192 in unpaid rent.
Phillip White, a black marine veteran who served during the Vietnam War, is at risk of being evicted from the church’s apartment building, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
As the Free Beacon reported:
Columbia Residential, which manages Ebenezer Baptist Church’s low-income apartment building in Atlanta, served a dispossessory notice to Phillip White on Sept. 20 for $192 in unpaid rent. White, an African-American Marine veteran who served two combat tours in Vietnam, provided money order receipts to the Free Beacon on Thursday showing he made a $542 rent payment on Nov. 2. But Columbia Residential hasn’t filed a motion to dismiss its case, indicating it still intends to evict White.
It’s not clear why Columbia’s dispossessory notice against White remains open following his Nov. 2 rent payment. Warnock said in October that no one had been evicted from his church’s property, a claim undermined by court records showing that authorities have carried out two court-ordered writs of possession against residents since the start of the pandemic.
The apartment building reportedly brought eviction proceedings against some of its residents during the coronavirus pandemic, which was brought to light in the weeks leading up to the November election after the Free Beacon broke the story.
“[Warnock] said there would be no evictions,” White told the Free Beacon. “He knew that was a lie. What he was really saying is there would be no evictions until after the election.”
Warnock is headed to a runoff election against Republican Herschel Walker after neither candidate reached the 50 percent threshold in November’s midterm election in Georgia.
Herschel Walker, US Republican Senate candidate for Georgia, during a campaign event in Carrollton, Georgia, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While on the campaign trail, Walker offered to pay the past-due rent of tenants facing eviction from the church-owned apartment buildings.
However, White declined Walker’s assistance, telling the Free Beacon he would “feel good” if he paid off his debts himself.
“I help me. I got to tighten my belt and do the things I need to do,” White said. “If I do that, I’ll feel good. I’ll sleep better at night, sleep real good.”
In addition to the controversy surrounding the apartment building, Warnock’s ex-wife reportedly asked a Georgia court to order him in for questioning stemming from their ongoing custody battle.
As Breitbart News detailed:
The report noted that the court filing is the first movement on the case since August — when the judge filed a sealed temporary custody order — and that the new filing shows the two custody battles appear not to have been resolved. The filing reportedly showed that Ndoye accused him of neglecting to see his children during the days he had custody and not paying childcare expenses.
The court allows Ndoye’s lawyers to probe the senator over multiple issues under oath in a closed-door deposition, which could eventually be used for a settlement or if the case ends up going to trial. The lawyers reportedly notified Warnock that they plan to question him next year on January 18, which is days after the Senate is scheduled to open the next session of the U.S. Senate — if he is reelected in the December runoff battle.
Warnock has also made headlines for spending nearly $1 million on campaign security during the midterm election cycle, despite receiving endorsements from groups that have called to defund the police.
“Warnock paying for security detail is like an arsonist paying for a firefighter suit,” GOP strategist Stephen Lawson told the Washington Examiner.
As the Examiner reported:
The bulk of the campaign money went to Executive Protection Agencies, an Atlanta-based limited liability corporation. The group received about $997,000, whereas a combined $2,870 was paid to Taylor Security, the Gorilla Group, T4 Enterprises, and K9 All Systems, filings show.
The roughly $1 million on security was spent from January 2021 to October 2022, according to Warnock’s Federal Election Commission filings.
One of the groups Warnock boasts an endorsement from is Color of Change, a California-based dark money group that has consistently called to defund the police. Color of Change describes itself as “the nation’s largest online racial justice organization,” on the group’s website.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) talks with reporters after speaking at a rally, hosted by the Declaration for American Democracy coalition, calling on the Senate to pass the For the People Act, outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Warnock is also endorsed by the dark money group Sierra Club, an environmental group that wrote a memo titled “The Time Has Come To Defund The Police” in 2020 amid the George Floyd riots. The Sierra Club in August 2020 also claimed that law enforcement engages in “terrorism against Black and Brown people.”
The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, a lobbying group that called to “shrink police power and budgets,” also endorsed Warnock during the midterm cycle.
Warnock also received endorsements from NARAL Pro-Choice America, League of Conservation Voters, and Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, all dark money organizations that have called to defund the police, according to the Examiner.
Georgia Republican Party spokeswoman Danielle Repass criticized Warnock’s hypocrisy, telling the Examiner:
Raphael Warnock is the man who infamously called police officers “thugs” and “bullies,” so it comes as no surprise that he would accept endorsements from defund-the-police groups. The Democrat Party’s national pastime is hypocrisy, and Warnock’s proclivity for “elite” million-dollar private security is just his way of keeping up with other far-leftists.
However, Warnock has tried pivoting away from the defund the police moment, like many Democrats tried to do during the midterm election cycle. Still, in 2020 Warnock said the United States should “re-imagine” how law enforcement interacts with communities.
Warnock will face off against Walker during the December 6 runoff election.
