Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler Calls Out Opponent Rev. Warnock For Wanting to ‘End Cash Bail’

Ahead of the January 5th Georgia Senate Special Election, Democratic candidate Reverend Raphael Warnock has faced criticism for what has been considered to be far-left stances in the past, which he is now attempting to moderate.

An article published today said that he has long opposed cash bail, the system that requires people to put up money as essentially collateral to ensure they appear for court dates, even as the Democratic Party didn’t put the policy in its platform until 2020.

His opponent and current Senator Kelly Loeffler responded to the news and said, “Reverend Warnock wants to END cash bail. In other words — he would release violent criminals right back onto our streets.”

“This is on top of calling police officers ‘thugs’ & ‘gangsters.’ His radical agenda would endanger Georgia families,” Loeffler added while tweeting the article.

.@ReverendWarnock wants to END cash bail.

In other words — he would release violent criminals right back onto our streets.

This is on top of calling police officers “thugs” & “gangsters.”

His radical agenda would endanger Georgia families. https://t.co/gaCpKhQ6CN

— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) November 24, 2020

Rev. Warnock released an ad today which showed him attempting to call any criticism by Sen. Loeffler’s campaign as being trash.

“I told you the smear ads were coming, but Georgians will see Sen. Loeffler’s ads for what they are,” he said while sharing the ad which also shows him walking a dog.

I told you the smear ads were coming, but Georgians will see Sen. @Kloeffler’s ads for what they are. pic.twitter.com/0sgU8ndC63

— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) November 24, 2020

As the article points out, opposition to cash bail has become a mainstream position in the Democratic Party this year and Joe Biden supported it during his presidential campaign after it did not appear in the 2016 party platform.

The 2020 Democratic Platform, in supporting an end to cash bail, says “[p]overty is not a crime, and it should not be treated as one” and that reflects the language Warnock used in support of a 2018 ordinance passed in Atlanta that allowed people arrested for minor crimes to get out of jail without paying cash bail.

Warnock said to the Atlanta City Council as it was considering the bail reform ordinance, “A letter went out to the council members from an attorney representing the bondsman association reminding them that this system is as old as the country as if that supports the rightness of the situation.”

Comparing cash bail to slavery, he added that “Slavery is as old as this country, and it is as wrong as it is old. And so I stand to say that I support this new ordinance. We ought to end money bail. We ought to end wealth-based detention.”