What’s Going to Happen in Georgia?
Polls are closed, and we await the results of an incredibly consequential election.
Well, the day of the Georgia Senate runoff election is finally here, and with it comes the determining factor over which party will have control of the Senate. As someone who has admittedly loved the electoral aspect of politics, wondering who’s going to win and why, I can genuinely say I don’t have much of a definitive prediction as to who will win in Georgia: Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, or Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. That said, it’s still entertaining to venture a guess as to what will happen.
While I will not be shocked at all if Perdue and Loeffler manage to win, personally I think this election will lean to Warnock and Ossoff.
As was the case in November with Donald Trump and Biden, I wouldn’t be surprised if once again, the coronavirus pandemic wound up being a determining factor. With Mitch McConnell shamelessly blocking the much needed relief checks at a time when millions of people desperately need them just to help catch up on rent let alone put food on the table for their kids, it seems likely that voters might feel even more motivated than before to vote for Ossoff and Warnock to — if nothing else — ensure that McConnell no longer has the position of Senate Majority Leader. Frankly, I would be shocked if his decision to block the vote on $2000 checks wasn’t one of the deciding factors in this election.
That said, it’s not as though Georgia was a runaway state for Democrats in November. Thanks to the work of organizers on the ground, the once solidly red state is now purple. But it’s certainly possible that in order to push back against this and to affirm their control over a state that they likely feel is slipping away from them, Republican voters might be more motivated to turn out than they were in November, especially considering the high stakes nature of this race.
Probably the only solid and admittedly safe prediction I would venture to make about this election is that it’s going to be either both Democrats, or both Republicans. I just can’t envision a scenario where the number of people who only voted for one of the Senators on either side was so great, that it cost one of the party’s a Senate seat, especially since turnout was so high. That said, the ousting of McConnell isn’t the only reason to celebrate both Democrats winning these seats.
It’s certainly no secret that I’m tired of the Democratic party and the donor-beholden lawmakers who consistently avoid doing anything meaningful for the people, and far too often look to Republicans to blame as a convenient excuse to explain away their inability to get things done. While I have very little faith that Ossoff and Warnock will be the determining factors that make the Democratic party change their ways and actually use the leverage these two extra seats bring them, there’s certainly something to be said about Senator Bernie Sanders as the chair of the Senate budget committee.
We have to find the silver linings somewhere, don’t we?
