Georgia On My Mind

Because one drawn out and still much to hotly “contested” election just wasn’t enough, we’ve got another one coming. Life’s a Peach.

Georgia was one of the final states to come through with results from the 2020 general election, and it was close. Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992, but both of Georgia’s US Senate seats resulted in no candidates achieving 50% of the vote, so we go to a r-r-r-r-r-RUN-OFF!

For the most comprehensive and easy to understand explanation of Georgia’s run-off election, visit Vote Save America again. Just like in the general election, VSA offers a good breakdown of the candidates, election FAQs, and volunteer opportunities.

VSA is partnering again with Fair Fight, the voting rights organization started by Stacy Abrams, and like any great story, she and Fair Fight are bringing the battle back to Georgia for one final fight. Actually, they never left Georgia – it was more like they were the Moneyball Oakland A’s for encouraging ease in voting registration and action and actively shared the formula with other like-minded organizations across the country to help win political races all over the place. Now because of their efforts, Georgia flipped for Biden and is the key to Senate control. Currently, the breakdown of the 2020 US Senate consists of 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. If the Republicans win just one of the Georgia races, then they will continue to control the Senate under the lead of Kentucky Senator and monster who gives all turtles an undeserved bad name, Mitch McConnell. However, if the Democrats win both Senate races in Georgia, then there will be an even number of 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. How exactly does this give Democrats essential control of the Senate? As there is an even number of senators and the potential for a 50-50 tie in voting on legislation even outside of an actual partisan breakdown of 50 Rs and 50 Ds like we may get, the Senate President breaks any ties. Who is the person who presides over the Senate? For the first time, it is a woman. That’s right, Kamala Harris, a senator herself and now Vice President-elect, will be the tiebreaker of any Senate legislation that gets an even split after 100 others take a crack at it. Presumably, any Senate legislation for the next two years will likely be subject to a tight vote and may frequently find itself cut divided 50-50, which leave VP Harris as the ultimate say-so for how it goes. I don’t know about you, but I definitely would much prefer Kamala Harris taking the lead on deciding Senate action over Mitch McConnell taking the lead on Senate inaction. This is why we need to do all that we can to get both of Georgia’s Democratic Senate candidates elected.

So who are the candidates in Georgia? Let’s meet them!

All four candidates involved are fairly new to running for political office, but they bring experience from other ventures. We’ll look first at the only elected candidate: Senator David Perdue.

Perdue first ran for Senate in Georgia in 2014, but previously served in major roles at businesses like Haggar and Sara Lee, and was CEO for Reebok and Dollar General (he is not affiliated with the chicken people though). You can probably already guess, he’s the Republican in his race. Not to imply that one cannot run a massive company and be a Democrat, but the examples are thin. Also, Democrats don’t usually react to college students asking questions about voter suppression by stealing away the student’s phone. Perdue got national attention for a few bad things this year. One was his intentional mispronunciation of Kamala Harris’ name. Racist and insensitive to be sure, similar to his sneaking in of anti-Semitic stereotypes of his ads against challenger John Ossof who is Jewish. Most egregiously of all though, Perdue bought and sold millions of dollars in stocks related to coronavirus protective gear for the first few months of the disease, including his purchase of over $65,000 in DuPont stock- a major personal protective equipment (PPE) production company – the day of a private Senate meeting regarding COVID-19. This clearly shows a preference for personal financial gain over the well-being of the people he is supposed to represent and work to help. Unfortunately, Perdue is not alone in this activity; more on this later….

Now let’s look at who Perdue is running against: John Ossoff. Ossoff is an invesitagtive journalist who runs an investigative production company based in England that makes global pieces for the BBC. He actually has experience in Georgia run-off elections, as he ran for House of Representatives in a special election in 2017. Ossoff actually was initially the candidate with the highest number of votes, but no one reached the 50% threshold, and he narrowly lost to the Republican challenger in the run-off. Here’s hoping he can turn that outcome around this time!

Speaking of special elections, the other Senate seat in Georgia is just that. Long time politician Johhny Isakson, who was the previous Georgia Senator in this seat, retired for his health in 2019. Kelly Loeffler was appointed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to succeed Isakson for the remainder of his term, and now the term is up and she is running for the seat she has been filling. Loeffler also has a bit of a business background like Perdue, and unfortunately she also has involvement in stock selling regarding COVID-19 information she received from her position in Congress. She also has some racism of her own, as made evident in her remarks regarding Black Lives Matter and the protests made by players in the WNBA this summer – protests that involved the lineup of the Atlanta Dream, the team that Loeffler co-owns. No chill for the First Amendment and a penchant for insider trading, no thanks.

Her opponent is already looking better, and I promise he is. Raphael Warnock is a senior pastor at a Baptist church who has been involved in facilitating political protests and movements over the years. Following in the footsteps of his idol, Martin Luther King Jr., Warnock graduated from Morehouse where King attended school and currently leads the same church in Atlanta that King once led. He has unsurprisingly been endorsed by many individuals and groups on the left, but the most meaningful support he has is from the players on the Atlanta Dream.

Instead of trying to make a buck in the midst of a pandemic, Ossoff and Warnock can be counted on to actually work for their constituents, so let’s help them win.

If you live in Georgia and want to know what this run-off election is all about then check out the resources I’ve provided. Registered Georgia voters have options for voting in this run-off election: they can vote absentee; they can vote early; they can vote day-of in person. If you are a Georgia resident, please make sure that you are registered and determine your plan to vote as soon as you can. The last day to register is December 7th. If you need a more fun breakdown, then watch Mr. Colbert!

If you do not live in Georgia, then you can volunteer to contact voters (check out Vote Save America), and you can donate to Fair Fight and the campaigns of Ossoff and Warnock. Thanks in advance for whatever you do to help!

Thanks for reading! If you need a moment to take a much needed breath between elections, then take your moment as quick as you can so you can get into the game in Georgia fresher than a peach picked right off the tree! If you need a fire lit under you to encourage activity, then John Oliver can oblige:

The road leads back to you,

Alex