Night one of the Democratic National Convention was packed with great speakers, including some of the youngest rising stars in Congress, like Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). However, one of the most powerful speeches of the night came from Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who made an impassioned plea to voters to do everything they can to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.
His speech had both style and substance — something we should expect from Georgia’s first Black Senator who also happens to be the Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the church that was once the spiritual home of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But convention goers who may have never spent time in a Black church probably had no idea that Warnock was going to take them there with a speech that left the crowd on their feet.
Here are five reasons why Warnock’s message was so effective:
He Tells a Story of Hope
It may be tough to see America as a land of opportunity when Trump is one of the candidates for president, but Sen. Warnock reminds the audience about the historical significance of Jan. 5, 2021, when Georgia voters sent him and Sen. Jon Ossoff, the son of a Jewish immigrant, to Washington. The story is even more poignant because Warnock mentions that his mother Verlene — who once picked cotton for sharecroppers in rural Georgia — was able to cast a vote for her son.
“Because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton, somebody else’s tobacco picked her youngest son to be a United States Senator,” he said.
He Reminds Us of Our Not-So-Distant Dark Past
Just one day after Warnock and Ossoff were elected to represent Georgia in the United States Senate, a group of MAGA extremists stormed the U.S. Capital in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Although they didn’t get their way, Trump loyalists have not stopped trying to suppress votes for the other side.
“The lie and the logic of January 6 is a sickness. It is a kind of cancer that then metastasized into dozens of voter suppression laws all across our country,” Warnock said.
And then, like only a Baptist preacher can, Warnock made the significance of this election plain, calling it “a choice between the promise of January 5 and the peril of January 6.”
He Preached a Message of Inclusion
Warnock has a front row seat for all of the crazy on Capital Hill, but it’s clear that he still has hope for the future of the country with the right leadership.
“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together,” he said.
In a moment that got a huge reaction from the crowd, Warnock reminded voters that our next president needs to focus on more than just their political base in a style that took us back to Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
“I need all of my neighbors’ children to be okay — poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children in Appalachia,” he said. “I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the tracks to be OK. Because we are all God’s children.”
He Called Out Trump for His Bible Stunt
Donald Trump may be making a few coins selling his branded Bibles, but Warnock wants voters to know that he hasn’t bothered to open the book himself.
“I saw him holding a Bible and endorsing a Bible as if it needed his endorsement. He should try reading it,” he said.
Warnock then put an exclamation mark on his point, sharing Bible verses that no one would use to describe the Republican presidential nominee, including, “Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
And He Did it All With the Smooth Style of a Baptist Preacher
Warnock delivered his speech on Monday night, but it felt like Sunday morning when he spoke to the crowd in Chicago. It was clear to everyone watching that this man knows how to inspire a crowd. His cadence, his use of repetitive words and his vocal inflection worked together to create a powerful and inspiring message that was a great way to open a historic Democratic National Convention.