from w nyc i'm bryan lear this is my daily politics podcast it's friday june teenth we are honored on this june thineth

to have senator and reverend raphael wararnock with us. Talk about holding two jobs.

He is the senior pastor at what is often called Martin Luther King's Church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,

as well as Senator from the ultimate swing state of Georgia. If his Georgia colleague, John Ossoff,

wins or loses his election this fall that could determine control of the United States Senate.

We'll talk about the holiday, the midterms, and some other news of the day, and Senator Warnock's new book,

The Crooked Places Made Straight, Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America.

Originally from Savannah, some of you may know, Senator Warnock also has a New York background. He lived in the city meaning of America. Originally from Savannah, some of you may know,

Senator Warnock also has a New York background.

He lived in the city for a decade in the 90s and early 2000s,

earning his master's and doctorate degrees at the Union Theological Seminary

and becoming an assistant pastor at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Reverend Warnock, good to have you back on this show.

Welcome back to WNYC.

Great to be here with you.

Would you start with the title of the book, Crooked Places Made Straight?

I know it's from the Book of Isaiah.

Would you like to give our listeners the fuller quote

and say why it's so meaningful to you in the context of today's United States?

Yeah, there is a wonderful passage in the book of Isaiah and it's one that Jews and Christians know, but even if you're not a part of those traditions, if you've ever heard

George Frederick Handel's Messiah, the passage says, every valley shall be exalted. The mountains

and hills shall be made low, the crooked places made straight, and the rough places smooth,

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