Warnock’s Win Inspires Wave of Black Candidates

“Raphael Warnock’s Senate victory in Georgia has opened the floodgates to a surge of African American Senate candidates, raising the prospect that the 2022 midterm elections could dramatically alter the face of a chamber that is currently 89 percent white,” Politico reports.

“Many are state legislators or local elected officials who might have been dissuaded from running in the past, or viewed a statewide victory as implausible.”

“Fueling the burst is an unusually fluid Senate map that already features five open seat races. But prospective candidates and political strategists point to other catalytic factors — foremost among them, Warnock’s upset victory in January in a red, Deep South state that had never elected an African American to the Senate.”