Coming off the first Democratic presidential win in Georgia since 1992, party leaders are optimistic that progressive voters in the state can further disrupt the power balance in Washington, D.C.
Early voting began Monday in Georgia in the twin U.S. Senate runoff elections that will decide which party controls the Senate.
“We think that these are very competitive races that will come down to how many people we can turn out on each side,” said former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. “But we are very bullish about our opportunities.”
Abrams sees a stark contrast between Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and the two Republican incumbents they’re trying to replace on Jan. 5, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
She says the November presidential election is a sign that Georgians are looking for something different.
“Georgia was seen as a solid red state, a conservative bastion,” said Abrams. “What this election proved was that we are a state that is much more complex, where we’re going to have to have leaders who are willing to work together and have debates about what it means to serve a more diverse electorate with very complex needs.”
Since November, Abrams has been sounding alarm bells about the possibility of Georgia Republicans changing election laws in the upcoming session, based on unfounded claims of voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election. This includes a restriction on which voters are eligible to cast an absentee ballot and the use of absentee ballot drop boxes.
“The challenge that they see now is not that there’s any proof of widespread voter fraud,” said Abrams. “Their concern is that there’s widespread use by voters who chose not to elect their selected candidate.”
More than 1.2 million Georgia voters have requested absentee ballots for the Jan. 5 runoff. this follows 1.3 million people who voted by mail in Georgia in the November election. Two-thirds of those votes went to President-elect Joe Biden.
