Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock was bombarded by racist trolls while delivering virtual remarks to a county party late Monday, leading local officials to promise to increase their online security for future meetings.
Shortly after the Hall County Democratic Party meeting began on Zoom, several attendees began repeatedly hurling the N-word at the Black pastor of Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Others spouted nonsense from the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory and shared graphic porn.
“I had to play ‘Whack a Troll,’” said party chair Kim Copeland, who was moderating the discussion when the racial epithets popped up on the Zoom chat. “To say I was shocked was an understatement. I’m still in shock, to be honest.”
Candice Dyer, a writer and party volunteer, described it as “a cacophony of the worst of human awfulness, in response to a dignified public servant and person of faith.” She added: “I feel broken-hearted.”
In a Tweet late Monday, Warnock wrote that a “hateful few won’t stop us from going everywhere and speaking to everyone.”
“It is more important than ever to hear each other out - that’s what I’ll do in the Senate,” added the pastor, who is among 20 candidates challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Copeland, meanwhile, said he’s going to add new online restrictions for future meetings. And he predicted it would lead to more support in Hall County, one of the state’s most important Republican bastions.
“It really fired up our side.”
Insider’s note: This item was ripped and expanded from the Morning Jolt.
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