Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Broadcasting is the leading political reporter in Georgia. If you’re interested in keeping up to date, you should really follow his podcast Battleground: Ballot Box or his Twitter. Yesterday, with early in-person voting for the January 5 runoff concluded, Fowler was interviewed on PBS Newshour, and he is bullish on the chances of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. It’s an interesting interview, well worthy our time. Here are a few highlights:
Donald Trump is a liability for Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue
President Trump has put Perdue and Loeffler between a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, you have President Trump attacking Georgia's elections, attacking the Republican governor, the Republican secretary of state, and claiming that the election was rigged and there was fraud and that people shouldn't trust the outcome.
On the other hand, you have plenty of voters that are turned off by that kind of rhetoric and are saying that they're going to stay home and that they're not going to participate in this election or they're going to vote for the Democrats because the Democrats aren't trying to undermine democracy.
Early voting is looking good for Democrats
Well, Judy, there are three key constituencies to watch for in Georgia.
One is what you're seeing right now in suburban Atlanta. Those are the voters that voted for Joe Biden in the presidential race that may end up still voting for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in this election. And Metro Atlanta is turning outs in full force.
Another one to watch is down in Southwest Georgia, the Black Belt of Georgia, where there's a large African American Democratic population. They have been turning out in force as well, coming very close to the general election levels. In fact, some of the early voting data that I have looked at suggests that there are about 3 percent of the electorate is higher — there's about 3 percent more African American percentage of voters in this election than in the general election, which is a good sign for Democrats.
And the final one is up in Northwest Georgia, the Republican base, where turnout is lagging behind, and Republicans hope that a big Election Day surge can counteract this huge Democratic early vote.
Years of building competitive infrastructure is paying off for Democrats
And in the 2018 governor's race, where Stacey Abrams narrowly lost to Brian Kemp, the Democrats invested in parts of the state that didn't normally get a lot of attention. And they put grassroots campaigns and door-knocking and canvassing, and slowly started to eat into the margins there, while ramping up operations in Metro Atlanta.
And that's only built up for the last two years, where you have got a competitive infrastructure, and you have got Democrats showing up in force, and ultimately putting about 12,000 votes ahead to give Joe Biden the electoral votes.
Again, I encourage you to check out the full interview.
It’s good to hear Fowler, who is as objective as it gets, sounding optimistic on the chances of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Victore in Georgia, Vice President Kamala Harris as Senate tie-breaker and a Democratic trifecta in Washington are clearly in reach. But Democrats in Georgia stille need to finish strong to turn out enough voters on January 5 to hold off the Republican sure that is surely coming. If you can, please chip in a few bucks for Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock and some of their key allies in Georgia via ActBlue!
Do you want to know more about helping Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win their runoff elections? Check out the diary Ho ho how we are going to win the GA runoffs over Christmas — a (nearly) complete guide.