On a warm summer night just two days before the general election, Sen. Raphael Warnock delivered a personal address in the city where he was born and received a hero's welcome from his supporters.
Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker, a former University of Georgia football player, is in a close race with the first-term Democratic senator.
In his hometown, a historic coastal city filled with oak tree canopy dripping Spanish Moss over the streets, the senator's life story begins, ascending from the Kayton Homes housing project to Morehouse College and then from being a prominent member of the clergy to crafting legislation in the halls of congress
His character was a key part of his appeal as he seeks a full six-year term in the upcoming election.
The woman who told Insider that the event was her first political rally said she loved what the senator was doing.
Mikell praised him for being present "for those that don't have a voice."
"That's what he stands for, helping the less fortunate, and that's what he got elected to do," she said. Party control of the body was given to Jon Ossoff.
Anne Allen Westbrook, who this past May won the Democratic primary for a seat in the state House of Representatives, was at the rally with her husband, and spoke highly of Warnock's tenure in office to the crowd.
In the two years that he's been there, he's done a great job for us. We think he deserves a full term. He's been legislated with Georgia and he's very bipartisan.
The "Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act" has been held up in the Senate due to Republican opposition. Provisions of the Voting Rights Act have been eroded by decisions from the Supreme Court.
There is a lot of pride in the trajectory of the senator. She said that while Georgians love Walker as a football hero, that doesn't mean he needs to serve in the Senate.
He spoke of his reverence for his hometown and the influence of his family, but then pivoted to railing against Walker, saying that the election was being fought on a different field.
The White House tenure of President Joe Biden, who narrowly flipped Georgia to the Democratic column in the 2020 election, is similar to the one of President Donald Trump.
As the senior pastor at Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, he has natural ties to communities and is pushing for issues like student-loan debt relief and a $35 cap oninsulin prices.
Although individuals with private insurance aren't subject to the capped price after GOP opposition during the legislative process, Warnock played a critical role in the inflation reduction act, which passed the senate through the reconciliation process this year.
Insider spoke to a rallygoer who said he has full confidence in the outcome of the election.
"If we don't have the Senate that's favorable to Joe Biden, we won't get anything done," he said.
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