This week Republican voters in Georgia head to the polls to determine which gubernatorial candidate will face Democrat Stacey Abrams in the general election in November. According to an 11 Alive poll, it looks like Brian Kemp, Georgia’s current secretary of state, is in the lead with a slight edge against Lt. Governor Casey Cagle—with Kemp at 40 percent and Cagle at 34. A whopping 26 percent of likely Republican voters remain undecided going into Tuesday’s race.
Though they remain in a state of denial, the GOP is a big old mess right now. And their chaos, indecisiveness, and willingness to follow Trump over a cliff has impacted their standing in this important race. As a result, they aren’t unified as a party and can’t come to agreement on who they want to win. While outgoing Republican governor Nathan Deal has endorsed Cagle, Donald Trump has endorsed Kemp (by tweet, of course).
As The New York Times notes, Trump’s endorsement has surprised and frustrated the party, including the folks at the Republican Governor’s Association. Why are they frustrated? Because their president routinely jumps into races without consulting with members of the party leadership and he has a pesky habit of siding with candidates who are more likely to lose during the general election. There’s also that time earlier this year that he promised Republican governors at a meeting of the National Governors Association that he would not insert himself into contested primaries. But because Trump is Trump, he’s a liar who cannot help himself from doing the exact opposite of what is strategic and helpful to the party.
All of this is good news for Stacey Abrams. The 11 Alive poll indicates that no matter who Republican voters choose this week, he will have a close race with Abrams. In fact, she’s within a two-point margin no matter the nominee. “The poll shows Cagle beats Abrams 46 to 44% in a hypothetical matchup now, and Kemp wins 45 to 43%.” In both scenarios, undecided voters could give Abrams the edge—with 10 percent of voters undecided in a Cagle-Abrams race and 12 percent undecided in a Kemp-Abrams race.
So while Republicans continue to implode and try to do the most outrageous thing to garner votes, Abrams gets closer and closer to a victory and to turning Georgia blue. This would be a great thing for the people of Georgia and for our country. It’s time for Democrats to win so Republicans can stop running this country into the ground. But it’s not guaranteed. After 2016, we know that polls are often not a true indication of what voters will actually do on Election Day. This is why Abrams needs the money and infrastructure to get out the vote. If we actually invest in her and her plan to turn out black, brown, and progressive white voters, she can win.
Please donate $3 to help elect Stacey Abrams as Georgia’s first black woman governor and turn the state blue.