Here’s some good news today out of Georgia:
The Stacey Abrams campaign’s first internal poll has Abrams winning over both Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp. (The full memo is below)
Her numbers are: 48-43 over Cagle and 49-40 over Kemp.
Fred Yang with Hart Research, the Abrams’ campaign pollster, said the poll was conducted statewide with 601 likely voters last week. He said their sample was 45% Trump voters in 2016 compared to 43% Clinton supporters.
“Given all the evidence we’re seeing in 2018,” Yang said “I think the more likely scenario is the sample on election day will be more Democrat than the sample I polled last week.”
“We’re seeing a surge of Democratic turnout,” he added coupled with “muted Republican turnout”.
Click here for the full results.
A Democratic wave helped Abrams win the primary and a Democratic wave will make her governor:
In Georgia, women of color make up 23 percent of the population, but only 8 percent of elected public officials, according to the Reflective Democracy Campaign. This means that the Democratic Party’s single most powerful voting bloc is that of black women. With 2018, shaping up to be the biggest wave for women in American politics since female candidates were elected in numbers to Congress in 1992, the rising influence of black women is impossible to ignore.
Political observers cite the influence of black women in U.S. Senate special election in Alabama last year, when blacks cast ballots in greater numbers than their share of the population to lift Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore. The race in Georgia is rather different because Abrams herself is an accomplished and proud black woman of notable political experience.
This month, the Trump administration delivered on another promise made to evangelical Christians during the 2016 campaign, which is recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. For some evangelical Christians, the support for Israel comes from passages in the Bible they believe show that God intended Israel for the Jewish people.
For conservative and liberals, the story and platform of Abrams comes from passages in the Bible illustrating that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Abrams is running for all of Georgia. I am an abjectly repentant conservative. As such, I am proud to stand behind her with my dollars and my vote.
While her road to victory will not be won without a hard fight, as she faces the lieutenant governor of Georgia, she has something he does not, and that is #BlackGirlMagic. An African American woman leading a multiracial bloc of voters may very well revolutionize electoral politics. As the old spiritual goes there is “plenty good room,” so let all Georgians start choosing seats, side by side, as we discuss brighter futures for all.
And the GOP is busy both trying to attack Abrams:
As Republicans brace for a bruising runoff between Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state GOP is trying to ratchet up the pressure on Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams.
At a press conference Wednesday hosted by the Georgia GOP, two of the party’s top female leaders — House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones and state Sen. Renee Unterman — urged Abrams to release 10 years of her tax returns. Neither Republican candidate for governor has yet to do so.
The state Democratic Party countered with an event tied to the 94th birthday of Delta Air Lines. It was aimed at highlighting the “incompetence and extremism” of the Republican candidates, who both opposed a tax break for the airline after it cut ties with the National Rifle Association.
And each other:
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp have scrapped over gun rights, immigration crackdowns and which candidate for governor is the most effective conservative. Now they are adding blame for the state’s nine-week runoff to their lengthy list.
For decades, Georgia law required runoffs just three weeks after an initial election if no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote. But a federal judge’s 2013 ruling that found Georgia didn’t give Americans living abroad enough time to mail their ballots led to the current nine-week marathon.
The prospect of a drawn-out July 24 GOP runoff between Cagle and Kemp – while Democrat Stacey Abrams works to unify her party and focus on the November vote – has unnerved many Republicans. Which is likely why Cagle invoked the issue in one of his sharpest post-primary attacks against Kemp.
“For all the voters horrified at the thought of nine more weeks of politics, you can thank Brian Kemp’s office for bungling the federal court case that forced these long runoffs on the state,” said Cagle, who finished with about 39 percent of the vote in last week’s primary.
The election schedule became a problem for Georgia in 2012 after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit taking issue with the state’s practice of holding runoffs three weeks after an election.
It based its complaint on the country’s Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, which established a 45-day window for overseas voters to return their ballots. A judge agreed with the Justice Department and ordered an extended voting schedule.
Also, expect more batshit ads to come out during the runoff:
Shotguns are getting a workout in the Republican race for governor.
Clearly riffing off the success of a TV spot that Brian Kemp used to help into a nine-week runoff campaign, Casey Cagle took a first hard shot at his rival this morning with a 30-second ad that accuses his rival from walking away from canola and sunflower oil processing project and leaving farmers in the lurch.
The language is harsh, intended to undercut Kemp’s emphasis on his business resume. The lieutenant governor calls the secretary of state “incompetent” and “untrustworthy.” In the accompanying press release, the Cagle campaign takes a stab at coining a new word: “InKempetence.” Watch here:
Let’s let the GOP beat itself up. In the meantime, let's get ready to win. Click here to donate and get involved with Abrams campaign.