“愤怒” 一词不足以形容参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克说他在五天内跨越四个州竞选时所看到的情绪，他主要为南部的民主党参议员候选人助选。
“Anger” isn’t a strong enough term for what Sen. Raphael Warnock said he’s seeing as he campaigns across four states in five days, mostly for Democratic Senate candidates in the South.
周六，这次行程将沃诺克带到南卡罗来纳州，为该州民主党参议员提名人安妮·安德鲁斯站台。在安德鲁斯和众议员吉姆·克莱伯恩（民主党-南卡罗来纳州）的陪同下，他向一群听众发表了标志性的布道式演讲，听众中包括该州许多信仰界和民主党领袖。
On Saturday, the tour brought Warnock to South Carolina to stump for Annie Andrews, the state’s Democratic Senate nominee. Flanked by Andrews and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., he gave his signature sermon-style remarks to a crowd that included many of the state’s faith and Democratic leaders.
“国家才刚刚开始关注并觉醒，意识到南部正在发生的事情，”沃诺克说。“在密西西比州……在这里的南卡罗来纳州……在北卡罗来纳州，现场有一种正义的愤怒。我国人民在说：够了，够了。”沃诺克以一种令人想起他同时担任亚特兰大历史悠久的埃比尼泽浸信会高级牧师的坚定语气，提出了解决之道。
“The nation is just beginning to pay attention and wake up to what is happening in the South,” Warnock said. “In Mississippi … here in South Carolina … in North Carolina, there is a kind of righteous fury on the ground. The people of our country are saying enough is enough.”With a conviction that reminded listeners that Warnock doubles as the senior pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the senator offered a solution.
“是时候翻篇了。对我来说很清楚，实现这一目标的道路直通南部，”沃诺克说。“南部如何，国家便如何。”沃诺克对南部未被开发的政治潜力的信念源于他自己的战绩。他在不到三年的时间里赢得了五次选举，反复打破了“圣经带”参议院席位能否翻红并保持这一局面的质疑。他认为，有了合适的政治环境和足够的投入，南部民主党人可以赢下那些看似毫无希望的竞选。他正敦促自己的政党，包括其参议院领导层，据此采取行动。
“It’s time to turn the page. And it’s clear to me that the road to getting that done runs right through the South,” Warnock said. “As goes the South, so goes the nation.”Warnock’s belief in the South’s untapped political potential comes from his own record. He won five elections in less than three years, repeatedly overcoming doubts that a Bible Belt Senate seat could flip to Democrats and stay that way. With the right political environment and enough investment, he argued, Southern Democrats can win races that look like long shots. He is pressing his party, including its Senate leadership, to act on that.
过去一周，沃诺克在佐治亚州提前投票，并同前亚特兰大市长、民主党州长提名人凯莎·兰斯·博托姆斯一起在亚特兰大助选。他在哥伦比亚和查尔斯顿为安德鲁斯动员黑人男性选民，并出席了北卡罗来纳州前州长、该州民主党参议员提名人罗伊·库珀的拉票启动活动。
Over the past week, Warnock voted early in Georgia and joined Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor and Democratic nominee for governor, on the trail in Atlanta. He rallied Black men in Columbia and Charleston for Andrews, and he attended canvass launches in North Carolina for former Gov. Roy Cooper, the state’s Democratic Senate nominee.
不过，密西西比州的参议院选举似乎才是沃诺克最关心的问题。在没有被问及的情况下，他主动谈到了自己对斯科特·科洛姆（Scott Colom）的支持——科洛姆是一名地方检察官，正试图成为自1982年以来首位在密西西比州赢得参议院选举的民主党人。
But Mississippi’s Senate race seems to be most on Warnock’s mind. Without being asked, he brought up his support for Scott Colom, a district attorney trying to become the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Mississippi since 1982.
“我认为，当人们听到‘密西西比’这个地名时，他们会对自己认为可能发生的事情产生一些预设的看法，但这些预设其实是基于对乔治亚州的经历得出的，”沃诺克说。“很多时候，我们之所以失败，正是因为我们缺乏足够的关注和投入。”据科洛姆的竞选团队向MS NOW透露，沃诺克已经为科洛姆举办了四场筹款活动，并帮助为他筹集了超过50万美元的资金；该团队表示，这是任何其他参议员为候选人筹集到的最多资金。
“I think when people hear ‘Mississippi,’ they make certain assumptions about what’s possible, but they made those assumptions about Georgia,” Warnock said. “I think very often we lose by the margin of our disengagement.”Warnock has hosted four fundraisers for Colom and helped raise more than $500,000 for him, his campaign told MS NOW. The campaign said that is more than any other senator has raised for a candidate.
民主党参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默（Chuck Schumer，来自纽约州）至少参加了一场筹款活动。
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attended at least one of the fundraisers.
不过，这并没有让舒默免受沃诺克的批评。与舒默立场一致的超级政治行动委员会（Super PAC）——参议院多数党PAC——虽然对科洛姆表示支持，但至今尚未在这场选举中投入大量资金。
That hasn’t spared Schumer from Warnock’s prodding. Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with Schumer, has praised Colom but has yet to make a significant investment in the race. “We could do a lot better,” Warnock said.
“我们本可以做得更好，”沃诺克说，“我很高兴全国人民终于开始关注南方发生的事情了。但我担心，如果民主党在南方只是敷衍了事、做得不够努力，我们就错失了为整个国家带来变革的真正机会。”他补充道：“我一直在和我的同事们讨论这个问题。”
“I’m glad that the nation is finally waking up a little bit, paying attention to what’s happening in the South. But I think that, to the degree that Democrats do just enough in the South, or barely enough, that we miss a real opportunity to do something transformational for the whole country.”“I’m having that conversation with my colleagues all the time,” he added.
然而，沃诺克的雄心面临着现实的政治障碍：民主党仍然面临着全国性的负面形象，而且他们筹集的资金远低于共和党。当被问及是否公平地期望民主党为一个几十年来未曾获胜的候选人投入资金时，沃诺克首先表示了自己的无奈。
Warnock’s ambitions run up against political reality, though. Democrats are still weighed down by an unpopular national brand, and they raise significantly less money than Republicans. Asked whether it’s fair to expect the party to spend on races a Democrat hasn’t won in decades, Warnock began with a concession.
“毫无疑问，他们比我们有更多的钱。一直如此。如果这些政策持续下去，将来也永远如此，”他开场说道。“民主党在参议院的上限是52个席位。这是不可持续的。随着时间的推移，我们必须拓展战场。我们能走路嚼口香糖同时进行。我们既能在我们更有希望获胜的地方加强并巩固我们的候选人，同时也能提供拓展战场所需的各类资源。”
“There’s no question that they have more money than we do. They always do. And if these policies persist, they always will,” he began. “Democrats’ ceiling in the Senate is 52 seats. That’s unsustainable. Over time, we have to expand the map. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can strengthen and shore up our candidates in places where people feel like we’re more likely to win, and at the same time provide the kinds of resources that are needed to expand the map.”
沃诺克辩称，他不断遇到的“正义的愤怒”能够推动这些胜利。在从查尔斯顿的一个筹款活动前往伊曼纽尔非裔卫理公会教堂途中，他解释了这句话的含义，2015年一名白人至上主义者曾在该教堂枪杀九名黑人信徒。
Warnock argued that the “righteous fury” he keeps encountering can power those wins. He explained what he means by the phrase before heading from a Charleston fundraiser to Mother Emanuel AME Church, where a white supremacist killed nine Black worshipers in 2015.
“我认为这次选举远比典型的选举季重要得多，我们国家面临的问题也远比党派政治那套微不足道的语言重要得多。那种词汇无法捕捉这一道德时刻，”沃诺克说。
“I think that this election is so much bigger than your typical election season, and the issues that confront our country are so much bigger than the puny language of partisan politics. That’s a kind of vocabulary that does not capture the moral moment,” Warnock said.
他指出了民众对一系列问题的愤怒，从医疗保险覆盖率下降到食品杂货成本上涨，再到“政府最高层的腐败”。
He pointed to outrage over a range of issues, from declining healthcare coverage rates to rising grocery costs to corruption “at the highest levels of government.”
“这是对与错的区别，”他说，“我认为两党的人都能感受到这一点，这就是为什么像南卡罗来纳州这样的州处于这场辩论的中心，我们能做一些不久前在参议院看来不可想象的事情。”57%的合格黑人选民生活在南部。沃诺克本周花费时间最多的几个州，黑人选民占比位居全国前列。沃诺克还是亚特兰大历史悠久的埃比尼泽浸信会教堂的资深牧师，马丁·路德·金牧师曾在此布道，他被视为独具优势能动员这些选民投票。
“It’s the difference between right and wrong,” he said, “and I think people feel it on both sides of the aisle, which is why a state like South Carolina is at the center of this debate, and we can do something that seemed unimaginable not long ago in the Senate.”Fifty-seven percent of eligible Black voters live in the South. The states where Warnock has spent the most time this week have among the highest shares of Black voters in the country. Warnock is also the senior pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, and he is seen as uniquely equipped to turn those voters out.
周六，他在以黑人为主的北查尔斯顿和弗洛伦萨市集会鼓舞支持者，这一努力便展现无遗。
That effort was on display Saturday, when he rallied supporters in predominantly Black North Charleston and Florence, South Carolina.
但沃诺克表示，民主党不能仅依靠动员其最忠诚的选民。他主张，该党必须建立一个跨越党派界限的“多元种族联盟”。他说，该联盟应利用人们对他所称的“残酷”特朗普政府政策的愤怒，这些政策针对的是最弱势群体。
But Warnock said Democrats can’t rely only on turning out more of their most loyal voters. The party, he argued, must build a “multi-racial coalition” that crosses party lines. He said it should draw on outrage over what he called “cruel” Trump administration policies that target the most vulnerable.
其中包括像芭芭拉·贝茨这样的选民，她80岁，直到最近一直是终身共和党人，周六前来听取沃诺克和安德鲁斯的演讲。贝茨在2016年投了唐纳德·特朗普一票，但被他“对人如此恶毒”的态度所反感。她在2020年总统选票上留空，并在2024年投了卡玛拉·哈里斯一票。此后不久，她被当地共和党正式开除。贝茨还不愿自称是民主党人，但她认同沃诺克的诊断。
That includes voters like Barbara Bates, 80, a lifelong Republican until recently, who came to hear Warnock and Andrews on Saturday. Bates voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but was turned off by “the way he’s so nasty to people.”She left the presidential line blank in 2020 and voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. Soon after, she was formally expelled from her local Republican party. Bates isn’t ready to call herself a Democrat, but she shares Warnock’s diagnosis.
“就像他说的，华盛顿生病了，我们需要有人来帮助修复它，我们只需要更多愿意对抗特朗普的人，”贝茨说。
“Like he said, Washington’s sick, and we need somebody to help fix it, and we just need more people that are willing to stand up to Trump,” Bates said.
贝茨表示，沃诺克的信仰可能使他成为南卡罗来纳州等圣经带州特别有价值的传播者，该州近80%的居民自称是基督徒。
Bates said Warnock’s faith could make him an especially valuable messenger in Bible Belt states like South Carolina, where nearly 80% of residents identify as Christian.
“共和党人——在某种程度上，基督教民族主义者已经接管了，”她说。“他们把人赶离教堂，而不是吸引人去教堂。像沃诺克参议员这样的人，也许能让他们思考自己真正想在哪里，基督教究竟是什么。”沃诺克赌注是，更多像贝茨这样的选民可以被说服支持南方的民主党人，如安德鲁斯。他还指望民调显示，公众对政府处理包括与伊朗的战争和移民执法在内的问题持不赞成态度。
“The Republicans — to a certain extent the Christian nationalists have taken over,” she said. “They’re running people away from the church, not to the church. People like Senator Warnock will be able to maybe let them think about where they really want to be and what Christianity really is.”Warnock is betting that more voters like Bates can be persuaded to back Southern Democrats like Andrews. He’s also counting on polls showing public disapproval of the administration’s handling of issues including the war with Iran and immigration enforcement.
“不同之处在于，现在的政府公然表现出他们的偏执与偏见，”沃诺克说道。“我们看到的这种残酷行为不仅针对黑人，也针对所有被视为‘异类’的人；这种残酷本质早已成为他们政治策略的一部分。”沃诺克本月的中期选举行程还包括新罕布什尔州和内华达州。这两个州以及南卡罗来纳州历来都是民主党总统初选最早举行选举的州之一。当被问及此事时，沃诺克避而不答。
“What is different about this moment is that we have an administration that is wearing their bigotry on their sleeve,” Warnock said. “The cruelty that we’re seeing unleashed, not only against Black people, but against people of color, against people who are perceived to be other — the cruelty is baked into the cake. It’s their electoral strategy.”Warnock’s midterm travel this month has also taken him to New Hampshire and Nevada. Those two states and South Carolina have traditionally held some of the earliest contests on the Democratic presidential primary calendar. Asked about that, Warnock demurred.
“看看新罕布什尔州和南卡罗来纳州吧——这些地方都有我们的参议院候选人，我们必须赢得这些选举，”他说。
“If you look at New Hampshire, South Carolina; those are places where we also have Senate candidates, or we need to win,” he said.
当被进一步追问是否至少在考虑参选总统时，沃诺克并没有像他的佐治亚州民主党同僚乔恩·奥索夫参议员那样直接否定这个可能性。
Pressed on whether he is at least considering a presidential run, Warnock wouldn’t do what his fellow Georgia Democrat, Sen. Jon Ossoff, has done: throw cold water on the idea.
“我一直有一种强烈的使命感，”沃诺克说，“我原本是一名牧师，从未想过自己会进入参议院；我的祈祷始终未变：‘我该如何在每个时刻以最好的方式发挥自己的能力、贡献自己的力量呢？’”无论沃诺克最终做出什么决定，他都将在2028年面临连任选举。他的下一步行动很可能会是利用这种“正义之怒”（即民众对不公现象的愤怒情绪）。
“I am someone who’s always had a deep sense of calling. I’m a pastor who didn’t imagine that I’d be in the Senate, and my prayer has remained the same,” Warnock said. “How can I offer my resources, gifts, opportunities to serve in the best way at each moment?”Whatever Warnock decides, he is up for re-election in 2028, and his next move will likely involve harnessing that “righteous fury.”
“我希望我们能把这种正义之怒、以及‘我们本应比现在更好’的信念，转化为更有意义、更高尚的讨论，”他说，“我们确实比现在要好得多，我们需要那些能够提醒我们这一点的领导者。”
“I would like to see us channel that righteous fury, that sense of we’re better than this into a larger and nobler conversation,” he said. “We really are better than this, and I think we need leaders who can remind us of that.”