FULL INTERVIEW: Raphael Warnock Speaks With CNN After Mamdani-Endorsed Candidates Sweep NY Primaries

[0:00] Shockwaves jolted your party last week when three of Mayor Momdani's candidates supported by the Democratic Socialists of America swept New York's primary defeating two incumbent Democratic members of Congress. Momdani said those victories prove that the DSA has a durable movement among the positions that these candidates have advocated for are ending all support for Israel ending prisons ending police no borders. Now you've worked hard to be a progressive who can represent all of Georgia all [0:30] of a purple state. Are you worried at all about the impact that these positions of some DSA members could have on the Democratic Party's ability to win a majority in November? Jake, I have to tell you that if I were a Republican this morning, I would be deeply worried because they are having an argument about who is the most loyal to Donald Trump. We are a big tent party focused on the ordinary concerns of everyday Americans. And we have [1:03] robust and sometimes rambunctious arguments about what to do. But there's no question that grocery prices are unaffordable. Health care is unaffordable. Donald Trump said he was going to lower our prices on day one. [1:17] And here we are two years into his presidency. And every time someone asks him about the price of groceries, the price of gas that he's raised with this illegal war of choice, when asked about housing, which he could have done something about last week, chose not to do so, he and his administration quickly talk about Joe Biden. [1:38] Well, I think the voters are not interested in hearing about Joe Biden. They elected Donald Trump two years into his presidency. He's done nothing. [1:45] And so I think as young people especially deal with this affordability crisis, they deal with the fact that the average age for a first time homebuyer right now is age 40. [1:58] And most Americans don't have $400 for emergency relief. They want to know who's focused on them. And their response to that differs. We've got all kinds of candidates across the ideological spectrum who are getting elected. [2:11] And I think the thing they have in common is that they're finding ways to center the concerns of ordinary people. [2:18] So I hear what you're saying. There is an interesting dynamic playing out in the Democratic Party, however, when it comes to the DSA and black voters. [2:27] On the one hand, Congresswoman-elect, presumably Chevalier, narrowly won black voters in New York, like 48 percent to 46 percent. [2:36] On the other hand, a lot of these positions of the DSA advocate for things that black voters in general don't support, like no borders, no police, no prisons. [2:45] And then I want you to take a look at what happened on election night on Tuesday, according to this viral video reported on by New York Magazine, among others. [2:53] Take a listen, and we'll talk on the other end of it. [2:56] So that's a bar full of largely white DSA activists chanting, you're next, as they watch an interview on the TV in this bar with Hakeem Jeffries, the potential first ever black speaker of the House. [3:20] What's your take on that? [3:24] You know, as I said, we have robust and rambunctious arguments about the direction of our party. [3:30] But the focus is on the concerns of ordinary people. [3:35] Look, I don't believe in abolishing the police. [3:40] You can't have security without police. [3:43] You don't have a country without borders. [3:47] But this debate will go on. [3:51] Black Americans are not a monolith. [3:54] They will respond as they are hearing candidates center their concerns. [4:00] I think part of the problem with politics, quite frankly, in our country is that we've made the politics about the politicians, which candidate is in, who's out, who's up, who's down, what's going to happen to this politician come November. [4:19] I'm worried about what's going to happen to ordinary people who can't afford their lives right now. [4:25] And there's a way in which both parties have not adequately responded to this deepening American crisis. [4:33] We've seen the concentration of wealth in our country increasingly at the very, very top, especially since Citizens United and the passing of the one big ugly bill, which I call Robin Hood in reverse, socialism for the rich. [4:50] The largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top. [4:53] I think young people are seeing that. [4:55] They are deeply frustrated. [4:57] And there's a wide range of their responses. [5:00] But we have to center the people. [5:02] And come November, the people are going to hold Donald Trump and his henchmen accountable. [5:08] We're going to put some guardrails on this president by flipping the House and the Senate. [5:11] Let's talk about your book, The Crooked Places Made Straight Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America. [5:17] I'm struck by the fact that two potential 2028 presidential candidates on either side of the aisle have written new books about faith, you and obviously Vice President Vance. [5:27] His is about his conversion to Catholicism. [5:29] You have this passage in your book that struck me where you say, quote, [5:32] It might seem odd that as a pastor, I'm not automatically heartened when I hear that Christians are at the negotiating table. [5:39] That's because I am, too, a student of history. [5:42] And I know that in some of this country's crucial moments, Christians have stood on the wrong side of justice. [5:49] In that light, what do you make of the vice president talking about his faith? [5:56] Well, I'm glad he's talking about his faith. [5:58] I take his Christian confession at his word. [6:00] I don't question that, but, you know, I think it's my duty as a brother to hold him accountable based on those claims. [6:08] Even as the vice president talks about his conversion, he's a new Catholic. [6:12] I was struck by the fact that he's wasted no time telling the pope how to be the pope. [6:18] The pope, in the light of this illegal war of choice in Iran, began to talk about peace. [6:24] And I couldn't, you know, but chuckle a bit to hear this new convert say that the pope needs to be careful when he's talking about theology, that I guess he ought to stay in his lane. [6:38] And so I just worry that sometimes the religion becomes one more tool in the ideological toolbox. [6:46] My faith is not a weapon. [6:48] It is a bridge. [6:51] I was struck last summer by the fact that right before they passed the so-called one big beautiful bill, I call it an ugly bill, right before they cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid, calling it waste, fraud and abuse, even as they kicked 15 million people off of their health care, right before taking food out of the mouths of children with these draconian cuts on SNAP, which disproportionately, by the way, impacted red rural districts. [7:17] The speaker of the House and other legislators gathered together in a very ostensible and public way in front of the press, joined hands and said a long prayer. [7:28] And then after they prayed, they cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid. [7:32] They cut SNAP and kicked people off of their health care. [7:36] And so I just want to know what were they praying about. [7:40] And that's a discussion and a conversation that I am trying to encourage, even as I've written this book, The Crooked Place is Made Straight. [7:48] Senator and Reverend Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia, thanks for joining us. [7:52] We really appreciate it, sir.