Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Senator Kelly Loveller for a crucial Senate seat in the US state of Georgia Wednesday, in a win that could help take Democrats take control of the Senate. 

Reverend Warnock, a pastor at a church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr. once served, was the first Black senator to be elected in the southern state, and only the 11st Black Senator in US history.

Throughout his career, Warnock has been known for his fight for civil rights and justice. He is one of few religious leaders that have campaigned for a woman's access to abortion. 

"I've always tried to leverage the moral truth to create moral good. My whole life has been about service. And that doesn't end at the church door, it starts there," Warnock said in his victory speech.

Notably, Warnock's win comes at a time where systemic racism has become a household, albeit controversial, topic in the US. As coronavirus continues to ravage the country, 80 percent of coronavirus patients hospitalized in Georgia are Black, according to NPR. 

Warnock will face a state, and a party, that is deeply divided on issues like racial disparity in health systems, police brutality, and representation, among other considerations. 

Attention is now focused on the election between Republican Senator David Purdue and his Democratic opponent John Oseff for the second Senate seat in Georgia, as whichever party wins the seat will have a coveted majority in the Senate.