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Town hall with Georgia US Senate candidate allegedly disrupted with racist attacks, pornography

Rev. Raphael Warnock said: "A hateful few won’t stop us from going everywhere and speaking to everyone."

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — During a virtual town hall meeting with the Hall County Georgia Democratic Party, U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock was the target of racist attacks by a group of hijackers, according to those in attendance.

Due to the pandemic, the event was being held on a Zoom call. The group said until it is safe to meet in person again, the virtual meetings would be held every other Monday as a way to "hear from local candidates" and "learn about community events."

According to reports, the trolls began chanting the N-word, QAnon allegedly joined and pornography was shown.

"A hateful few won’t stop us from going everywhere and speaking to everyone. It is more important than ever to hear each other out - that’s what I’ll do in the Senate," Warnock said on Twitter. 

Hall County Democratic Committee Member Leigh Miller tells 11Alive that it started with one troll and grew. She said they were chanting the N-word and flashing pornographic images. 

"There was weird chanting and swastikas were appearing. It felt like we were being attacked," Miller said. "Everyone looked so traumatized. It was really upsetting." 

Candice Dyer of the Hall County Democratic Party told the AJC's Greg Bluestein that "The racists showed up to chant the N-word; QAnon chimed in & various hirsute people masturbated for us. It was a cacophony of the worst of human awfulness in response to a dignified public servant & person of faith. I feel broken-hearted." 

Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Scott Hogan released the following statement following the alleged racist attacks. 

“There is no place for hatred and bigotry in our politics, yet once again in this campaign season, we are seeing a Black candidate come under racist attacks meant to intimidate and shut down his platform," Hogan said. 

He went on to say that he hopes all candidates would come together to condemn this type of behavior. 

"This must not and will not be tolerated. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and I am hopeful that all candidates in this race — regardless of party — will join us in condemning these kinds of racist attacks on Reverend Warnock and make sure to engage in a respectful debate.”

The virtual town hall meetings are open to the public and advertised on the Hall County Georgia Democratic Party Facebook page and newsletter. Moving forward, the group said they would be "putting additional security measures in place to try to prevent such a thing happening again."

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