SAVANNAH — Rain showers led to swampy humidity on Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t stop a few hundred people from making their way to a church parking lot just outside of downtown to hear from a man they consider one of them: U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
For Warnock, campaigning in Georgia’s fourth-largest city in the closing days of his bid for a full six-year term was about more than drumming up turnout in a Democratic enclave. It was a return home.
“There’s no place like Savannah,” he told the crowd. “And I’m grateful for the values that were instilled in me here, the community that shaped and nurtured me.”
Savannah is where Warnock grew up and where many members of his family, including his mother, still reside. It is where he preached his first sermon and learned about church leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who embraced activism beyond the pulpit. It is the place where family, friends and mentors encouraged him to dream and now celebrate all he has accomplished.
“I’m not surprised,” former classmate Gale Brantley said Sunday. “He was bound for greatness. He’s always been phenomenal. He’s always had his head on straight. He comes from a well-rounded family full of love and God-fearing. This is the normal Raphael. Nothing has changed about him; this is the same Raphael.”
Brantley and Warnock attended the same schools and graduated together from Johnson High School in the class of 1987. He recognized her among a group of volunteers who packed inside a field office Sunday prior to the rally to receive a pep talk from the candidate before they all headed into the soggy weather to knock on doors.
Warnock greeted her warmly, and they took a selfie. In between, he called out the names of her family members and told her to make sure to tell everyone he said hello.
“That’s our man,” she said later. “He’s a Georgia man, but he’s a Savannah man. And we love him dearly.”
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was also at the canvassing launch. He said it was important that Warnock had not forgotten about his native city, home to one of the nation’s busiest ports and a major economic engine in Georgia, but also a city with pockets of poverty and plenty of need.
“No. 1, he decided to come home,” Johnson said. “But he’s also saying in a very real way that coastal Georgia matters. We’ve had a lot of statewide candidates that didn’t pay any attention to the whole state. He’s been here several times. I think it’s important for people to see as he’s shown during his time in office that he is a senator for the entire state, not just for metro Atlanta.”
Savannah in return is reflected in Warnock’s tenure as a senator, Johnson said. His upbringing in the Kayton Homes public housing project, being raised by working-class parents, the public schooling — all of it has shaped his approach to working in Washington and his message to voters as he seeks reelection.
“He represents that if you work hard and you try hard and you demand excellence, that great things happen to you,” Johnson said. “He’s remained connected to this community and to poor people because he’s lived that experience. And that’s reflected when he talks about things like Medicare because he knows people with that experience.”
As the sky grew pitch black, Warnock told supporters at the rally that earlier this year city leaders approached him about renaming one of its streets after him. He chose the one that he grew up on: Cape Street.
“That kid who grew up in Kayton Homes now sits in the United States Senate,” he said. “But I haven’t forgotten about the place that made me, and I was glad to see them change that street name because I wanted some other young person to be inspired.”
This homecoming also had a purpose beyond the nostalgia. Warnock told the people gathered that he needed their help if he was going to prevail on Tuesday against Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Vote if they haven’t already and encourage other to do the same, he said.
“The most important thing you can do is make sure your voice is heard right now,” he said. “Are you ready to win this election?”
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