How the WNBA’s early support helped push Raphael Warnock to a historic Senate victory

The WNBA’s Black, female athletes aren’t just athletes. They’re organizers.

Reverend Raphael Warnock made history on Tuesday night after defeating incumbent Kelly Loeffler in Georgia’s Senate runoff election.

Not only is Warnock the 11th Black senator to be elected to Congress, but he will also the first Black senator from the state of Georgia. On top of that, he’s the first Democrat to be elected as a senator in Georgia since 1996.

While much of the credit for Warnock’s historic victory goes to the grassroots work done by Stacey Abrams and other voter mobilization groups in Georgia, the major push that Warnock got from the Black, female athletes of the WNBA can not be ignored.

The WNBA has long been at he forefront of social justice movements and it was the women of the Atlanta Dream who rallied people behind Warnock at a crucial early stage and gave him their support and encouraged people to vote.

It all started back in August when players from the Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury wore “VOTE WARNOCK” shirts during their pregame walk-ins.

Kelly Loeffler, Warnock’s opponent, is a co-owner of the Dream. She clashed publicly with players over her criticisms of the Black Lives Matter movement and also urged the WNBA not to support players’ on-court protests.

“@WNBAshould stand for and unite around the American Flag — not divisive political movements like BLM that unapologetically seek to defund the police,” she tweeted.

These shirts and the support of Warnock were a response from the Dream and other teams around the W. As a result, they literally altered the course of Warnock’s senate race.

On August 4, Warnock was polling in single digits. Two days later, per USA Today’s Nancy Armour, he’d raised nearly $200,000 and took his first lead in the race.

“Within two days, Warnock’s campaign said it had raised over $183,000. A few weeks later, Warnock began airing ads on TV. By Sept. 30, a Quinnipiac poll showed Warnock had taken his first lead in the race, polling at 31% while Loeffler was at 23% and Collins 22%.”

Athlete activism has been always a theme — particularly, over the last few months with protests rising across sports after the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. But the WNBA’s Black, female athletes have proven, once again, to be leaders in the space. They aren’t just activists — they’re organizers.

The proof is in the pudding five months later after lending their support to Raphael Warnock. He won his race. The women of the WNBA were a huge part of that victory. They were thrilled with the victory.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the WNBA in this Senate flip. Their early work drew attention to Warnock at a crucial time, and their continued support shored up the work of organizers and supporters around the state.  Hopefully, Warnock has an orange hoodie on tap for his acceptance speech.