WATCH: Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock dodges question on abortion limitations - Video
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is arguing his party should continue its focus on abortion as an election issue despite polls consistently showing voters with significantly more concern for the economy and inflation just weeks ahead of the midterms.
Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is silent after a resurfaced 2016 clip shows him demanding that those who supported former President Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential run need to "repent" for their "worship of Whiteness."
"If it is true that a man who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent," Warnock reportedly said during a speech filmed prior to the 2016 presidential election.
"No matter what happens next month, more than a third of the nation that would go along with this, is reason to be afraid. America needs to repent for its worship of Whiteness, on full display this season," Warnock said.
Warnock, who is running in a tight race for re-election this fall, did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment asking if he still stands by his statement.
Warnock was initially blasted for the comment in 2020 during his race against GOP competitor Kelly Loeffler.
Before her loss to Warnock, Loeffler went after his ties to a letter that compared Israel's actions in the West Bank to those of South African apartheid, as well as his defense and praise of an Obama-linked pastor who made antisemitic comments and proclaimed "God damn America."
GEORGIA DEM SENATE CANDIDATE DEFENDED JEREMIAH WRIGHT AFTER CONTROVERSIAL SERMONS
Warnock defended controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, perviously pastor to former President Barack Obama, after he claimed during a sermon that it's "not God bless America, God damn America" and blamed "them Jews" as the reason he was unable to speak to Obama after his presidential win.
"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America,'" Wright yelled during the sermon. "No no no, not God bless America, God damn America, that’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people, God damn America for treating her citizens as less than human, God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God, and she is supreme."
In March 2008, Warnock applauded the "social transformation that’s been the hallmark of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s ministry" and claimed that the sermon was an example of "truth telling."
"We celebrate Rev. Wright in the same way that we celebrate the truth-telling tradition of the Black church, which when preachers tell the truth, very often it makes people uncomfortable," Warnock told Fox News of the sermon.
"I'm not an antisemite," Warnock told MSNBC host Willie Geist in 2020, after Loeffler brought to light the connection between the Democrat and the reverend's ambiguous comments.
Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock (Getty Images)
Warnock is currently running in one of the most competitive races this cycle, which will play a key role in determining if Democrats or Republicans take control of the Senate this fall.
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A recent Marist Polling Institute survey found that about 49% of Georgians will either definitely or probably vote for Warnock, while 44% plan on definitely or probably voting for his GOP contender Herschel Walker. The poll was conducted from Oct 20-24, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Fox News' Sam Dorman, Adam Shaw, and Marisa Shultz contributed to this report.
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