Both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats were on the ballot this year, one a special election to fill the remaining term of a senator who resigned for health reasons; and because no candidate got 50% in November, both races will be decided by runoff elections in January.
The special significance of these races is that the next year’s Senate makeup currentlys stands at 50 (R) vs. 48 (D), and if Democrats win both of these elections, they will have a working Senate majority and be able to confirm Biden’s nominees and pass legislation. If they lose even one, McConnell will keep his GOP majority and be in a position to obstruct Biden for the next 2 years.
Winning two Senate seats in Georgia is a tough proposition for the Democrats, and most political observers consider it an uphill battle, but their task is being made easier by Trump’s attacks on the two Republican senators (for not supporting his election fraud claims), and by the GOP’s incessant drumbeat of election fraud claims. To wit:
“Frustrated supporters of President Donald Trump in Georgia challenged Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel on why they should even vote in the upcoming Senate runoffs if ‘rigged’ elections are ‘already decided.’ McDaniel’s Saturday campaign stop in Marietta, Georgia, appeared to backfire as Trump supporters who have adopted the president’s conspiratorial accusations about ‘voter fraud’ asked why their vote even matters,”
Newsweek reported on Saturday, November 28, 2020; adding,
“One baffled Trump supporter at the event asked how Republicans turned out in such ‘crazy numbers,’ but somehow Joe Biden still defeated the president.”
(Read story here.) The real-world explanation is complicated. For one, changing demographics:
“Since 2000, the population of the Atlanta metropolitan region has grown tremendously, making it one of the three fastest-growing metro areas in the nation. It now contains about two-thirds of Georgia’s entire population. The rest of the state’s growth has been concentrated in other smaller metro areas, such as Savannah and Macon. At the same time, large swaths of rural Georgia have witnessed population decline.
“The bulk of that growth has been in the suburbs, which have become increasingly diverse in terms of race, ethnicity and class. In the suburbs that do remain majority white and middle class, women are now more likely to be college-educated working professionals. These trends generally favor the Democratic vote, and it’s why the suburbs – in Georgia and across the nation – have become important electoral battlegrounds,”
Market Watch said (read that story here).
Another reason is that Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost a race for governor in 2018, has been a powerhouse for mobilizing new voters (read that story here). Also, Biden campaigned vigorously in Georgia, and got boosts from Abram’s efforts and from the endorsement of Rep. John Clyburn, a civil-rights leader who is revered in Georgia’s African-American community (read that story here). Probably also, GOP vote suppression was less effective this time because Georgia’s blacks were more determined than usual to vote (see story here).
In sum, Biden worked hard to win Georgia, and shifting demographics along with mobilized black support enabled him to edge out Trump there. Now, stunned Republicans trying to rationalize Trump’s loss as due to “fraud,” despite no real-world evidence backing up GOP claims, are demoralized and unmotivated to turn out for the GOP Senate candidates in the looming runoffs.
To which the Democrats undoubtedly will respond, we’ll take those seats any legal way we can get them. If Georgia’s Republican voters want to throw away the GOP’s Senate majority, that’s fine with us.
Photo below: Some of Georgia’s black voters waited in line for 10 hours to vote.
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There isn’t any evidence.
Spewing lies to shake up doubt on our democracy doesn’t make the truth go away.
Those who hold steadfast to the truth want proof of those fraud allegations.
Where is the proof?
There isn’t any.
What there is are lies, manufactured to create doubt on our election process. Our election process of the right for every legal American citizen registered to vote, to have the opportunity to cast their vote and have their vote counted.