After U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock wrapped up his prepared remarks, he paused a moment before delivering a more personal appeal.
The Democrat’s audience on Wednesday wasn’t the politicians scattered in the seats of Fox Theatre for the Eggs & Issues breakfast. It was the hundreds of business leaders who flock each year to the Georgia Chamber’s signature event. And he wanted the message to sink in.
“I submit this to you: Voting rights is above politics. It is about the covenant we have with one another as an American people. It is about the pathway that gives everybody a voice. Your vote is your voice and your voice is your human dignity.”
His voice rising in a lyrical flourish, the pastor took a different tack than President Joe Biden pursued earlier this week to sell a federal voting rights law to skeptics.
Rather than equate opponents of the measure to notorious segregationists like Bull Connor or George Wallace, as Biden had done during his Atlanta speech a day earlier, Warnock lobbied the corporate types in the room to see the federal legislation in a different mindset.
“Restricting access to the ballot is not good for Georgia. And it is certainly not good for Georgia business,” he said. Mild applause followed.
Warnock’s address – and the sharp backlash it provoked from later in the event – served as a reminder that the Democrat is taking his message to less-than-friendly territory to promote a federal voting rights expansion in the middle of a reelection campaign.
It also signified the seismic political shift in Georgia in the year since Warnock and Jon Ossoff swept GOP incumbents out of office to flip control of the U.S. Senate.
Consider the scene at the last in-person Eggs & Issues breakfast in January 2020.
Republican David Perdue, then the state’s senior U.S. senator, lamented how he couldn’t find Democrats to “compromise with up there.” Legislative leaders promised to put consensus over conflict. And the Chamber’s leader optimistically predicted an end to election-year pandering.
Those lofty goals ended in one of the most polarizing elections in the nation. There was little talk of idealistic comity this time around, with a bruising election campaign well underway in a state that’s almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
That tension was on display after House Speaker David Ralston took the stage.
Credit: Nathan Posner for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Nathan Posner for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He painted Biden’s speech as a message “to the state that I love and work for every day that either you stand with them or you stand with some guy named Jefferson Davis.”
“I didn’t mean to get into this this morning, but I’ve got to. Because at the end of the day, I’m just a country boy and I’ve got to say what’s on my mind,” Ralston said. “That’s not a real pitch for economic development, that you’re with us or you’re with Jefferson Davis.”
Supporters of the state’s election laws, Ralston said, shouldn’t be vilified by Democrats.
“I will not let someone lie about our state or its values,” he said. “Because when they do this, they lie about the good work that the men and women that I serve with in the Georgia House of Representatives do at a great sacrifice because they love Georgia like I do.”
Ralston’s remarks were greeted with booming applause.
Warnock, for his part, didn’t seem to mind his tepid reception. He told the audience that he received a call last year from concerned business leaders asking whether they should invest in Georgia despite their concerns about the state’s new election law.
“I was unequivocal and clear in my response. Absolutely. Bring your business to Georgia. Georgia’s open for business,” he said.
“I walked away with the conclusion that voter suppression is not good for business. Opening up access is the right thing to do – and it’s also the smart thing to do. This issue is above politics.”
Credit: Nathan Posner for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Nathan Posner for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Other takeaways from the event:
Warnock isn’t afraid to remind senior Senate Democrats how they came to wield their power.
“I look at that gavel in their hand and I remind them that Georgia put those gavels in their hand. And it works. You’re looking at the most junior member of the U.S. Senate, but I punch way above my weight.”
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For the first time since he took office, Gov. Brian Kemp used the Eggs & Issues platform to announce significant news: A plan to deliver $1.6 billion worth of tax refunds to Georgians, mostly in the form of $250 or $500 payouts.
Kemp was stingy with grabbing headlines at other Eggs & Issues breakfasts, perhaps stemming from the cool reception he got during the 2018 campaign from Georgia Chamber leaders. All is seemingly forgiven now that the pro-business group endorsed his reelection bid.
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The governor also offered a bipartisan proposal that seems destined for a unanimous vote in the Legislature.
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Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan brought his “GOP 2.0″ message to the event, echoing the move on from Donald Trump philosophy he’s promoted for the last year.
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New Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens showcased his call for a united Atlanta at the event, drawing applause when he said he would open a new police precinct in Buckhead on Thursday.
“Atlanta’s crime issues aren’t just ours alone.”
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The new mayor, a Georgia Tech graduate, also made some Bulldog fans happy.
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