GOP Rep. Doug Collins Slams Democrat Raphael Warnock: ‘There Is No Such Thing As A Pro-Choice Pastor’
During a campaign event on Saturday, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia slammed Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, Newsweek reported.
Collins hit the campaign trail to express support for incumbent GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who will compete against Warnock — a minister at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church — in the January runoff.
Collins ripped into Warnock for being pro-choice, suggesting that this position is inconsistent with his religious beliefs.
“There is no such thing as a pro-choice pastor. What you have is a lie from the bed of Hell. It is time to send it back to Ebenezer Baptist Church.”
Collins went on to say that he “pastored for 11 years,” explaining that he is “still a United States Air Force reserve chaplain who served in Iraq” and also quoting the Bible.
“I’m not sure, Kelly, what a pro-choice pastor looks like. I know what it doesn’t look like. It doesn’t look like what my Bible tells me when it says ‘I made you and I knitted you in your mother’s womb,'” he said.
Warnock has stressed that religion shaped his politics.
“My ideals are driven by my faith,” he told NBC News earlier this month.
In the conservative-leaning state of Georgia, the issue of abortion could take center stage. As Newsweek noted, Pew Research polling suggests that 63 percent of members in evangelicals churches oppose it.
Republicans have launched several different attacks at Warnock. For instance, some of the advertisements aimed at the Democratic candidate cast him as an anti-police Marxist who would seek to push a radical agenda if elected.
The contest between Warnock and Loeffler will take place on January 5, but early voting will begin on December 14. If Warnock and Democrat Jon Ossoff — who is running against Republican Sen. David Perdue — manage to win their races, the Senate will be split 50-50.
The GOP has thrown its full weight behind Loeffler and Perdue. At a campaign stop in Marietta on Saturday, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel struggled to reassure voters that the runoffs will be free from interference and manipulation.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged that widespread voter fraud swayed the 2020 presidential race in Joe Biden’s favor, which seems to have demobilized some of his supporters. Trump has also railed against Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, accusing him of participating in the alleged effort to rig the contest.
According to NPR, the mixed messaging on voter fraud has sparked concern in conservative circles, with strategists pointing out that the GOP could suppress its own turnout.
