Good news for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the Georgia runoffs
Some new data published by the Atlanta Journal Constitution has revealed a bit of good news for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the upcoming Georgia runoffs: A surge of new voters who registered to vote since the November 3 election. Of the 76,000 new people who registered to vote, over 56% of them are under 35 – an age group that’s overwhelmingly Democratic. In just Georgia alone, Joe Biden won this demographic by 10 points, and won first-time voters by a 7-point margin, according to exit polls.
We’re seeing some fruitful results from the work of Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group launched by Stacey Abrams whose primary mission has been to register as many new voters as possible before the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections. Efforts to drive up voter registration are clearly working, and it’s clear that even after Donald Trump is out of the picture, voters are now fired up against Mitch McConnell and more determined than ever to take away his power.
While Democrats have shown an enthusiasm advantage, crucial in close elections, the Republican candidates have recently run into some bad optics – and this is after the very public feud between Trumpers and mainstream Republicans. On Thursday, they managed to lose not one but two frivolous lawsuits related to voting – one against ballot drop boxes and one specifically targeting newly registered voters to stop their votes from counting. It’s never been clearer why Democrats need to retake the Senate if we want to keep democracy alive – and also clear why we cannot afford to be complacent. Let’s do everything we can to get Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock elected on January 5. You can donate to Ossoff and Warnock here.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making