Democrat Raphael Warnock Votes ‘Present’ on Measure to Overturn D.C.’s Soft-on-Crime Bill

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) refrained from taking a position Wednesday on a resolution to block D.C.’s controversial criminal code rewrite, instead voting “present” on the measure while 33 of his Democrat colleagues joined Republicans in voting in favor of it.

The resolution passed the Senate with remarkable bipartisan support, 81 to 14, after President Joe Biden revealed last week that, despite disapproving of the bill, he would not veto it if it came to his desk.

The update to the criminal code was widely criticized by Republicans and some Democrats because it would have reduced penalties for certain crimes, including carjackings, which occur well over once a day in D.C., according to the district’s carjacking dashboard.

The resolution’s passage marked the first time in decades that Congress used its authority to block D.C. laws after D.C.’s 13-member council overrode Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) veto of the council’s update to the criminal code.

Those in the Senate voting to allow the decrease in criminal penalties included members of the chamber’s more radical faction, such as Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Warnock was the lone senator to vote “present,” indicating in a statement that he did not want to vote to override a decision made by D.C.’s local government, given the district does not have senators.

“DC residents aren’t represented in the Senate. It’s ironic some of my colleagues have no compunction about acting against the will of Americans in DC,” Warnock said.

He continued, “I wish I had two Senate colleagues from DC I could talk to about this issue. But I don’t. So on this specific matter—one the DC Council has already withdrawn—I’m not going to overstep the people of DC.”

While Warnock did not attribute his vote to any position he may have had on the contents of the criminal code, his stances on policing and crime have long been complicated.

Warnock, who is also a longtime pastor, came under fire when he first ran for Senate in 2020 for conveying anti-police sentiments in some of his past sermons.

While the Georgia Democrat last year spearheaded passage of a bipartisan bill to fund small police forces, he has also been supportive of sweeping police reforms, such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would increase restrictions on officers and eliminate qualified immunity.

Warnock is also staunchly opposed to cash bail, saying in a 2015 sermon:

When you think about the fact that America still warehouses 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, we shouldn’t be surprised when we see police officers act like bullies on the street. … You don’t get to be the incarceration capital of the world by playing nice on the streets. You have to work for that distinction.

Warnock’s colleague Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned in an interview with Breitbart News in October in the leadup to Warnock’s reelection race that voters could expect Warnock to follow a “radical pro-crime agenda” if they reelected him.

“Crime will continue to increase, and more people will be the victims of violent crime in Atlanta and Georgia and all across America,” Cotton said. “Raphael Warnock has a radical pro-crime agenda.”

The other senator from Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), voted with the majority of his colleagues to block the criminal code changes.