Warnock, endorsed by Obama, gains ground in crowded Georgia senate race

Former President Barack Obama endorsed a candidate in Georgia’s U.S. Senate special election Friday as pressure builds on one the candidate’s opponent to abandon his bid for the most crowded race.

Obama endorsed the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is fighting for the Sen. Kelly Loeffler’ seat against her and 18 other candidates. Prominent Democrats have asked one of his Democrat opponents, Matt Lieberman, to clear the way for a potential Warnock win, including former candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams.

“We need Matt Lieberman to understand he’s not called for this moment,” Abrams said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Dropping out of the race is not a possibility. But we’re asking for people to consolidate their support around Raphael Warnock.”

After U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Sept. 18, the race for Loeffler’s seat became more significant: the victor might vote for the next Supreme Court Justice and could tip the balance of power in the Senate, according to the Capitol Beat.

Warnock gained support in the past few months and separated himself from the other Democrats in the race by gaining around 10 percentage points in the polls, leaving him neck-and-neck with the two leading Republican candidates: Loeffler and Rep. Doug Collins. Loeffler was appointed to take Sen. Johnny Isakson’s place when he resigned due to health reasons at the end of 2019.

Warnock has taken a narrow lead in a Data for Progress poll, and he trails Loeffler and Collins by a point or two in polls from the University of Georgia and Monmouth University.

The AJC’s most recent poll conducted by UGA has Warnock (20.3%) narrowly trailing behind Loeffler (23.5%) and Doug Collins (20.5%) with nearly 17% of people being undecided. The poll’s margin of error was 4.3 percentage points.

Warnock has also received endorsements from former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris, according to his website.

The special election has 20 candidates on the ballot with four candidates leading in the polls: Loeffler, Collins, Warnock and Lieberman. If no candidate receives 50% of the vote in the November election, a runoff election will be held for the two candidates with the most votes on Jan. 5.