"That Was Way Too Tight" ....

... and other quick B|E takeaways from that epic Georgia Senate runoff

Publisher’s Riff

Incumbent U.S. Senator Ralph Warnock, Democrat from Georgia, was able to - once again - pull off a victory while, literally, standing perilously on the jaws of defeat in that once very deep Confederate bastion known as Georgia. News alert: it still is that same ugly bastion of Confederacy, but in a different and much more sophisticated way now. Some added thoughts on what yesterday’s decisive election meant, perhaps beyond what you already know or what is the conventional wisdom on it …

• We’re very pleased and fortunate that Warnock won, folks stepped up, but: That was way too tight. Here are the final numbers …

• So, basically, there were only 2.8 percentage points between the very qualified, capable and coherent Senator Warnock … and the offensive abomination that was Herschel Walker. As the saying goes, even Georgia native Ray Charles could see what was going on. While, of course, many will just shrug that off as “well, it is Georgia,” we’re still deeply troubled that an offensive caricature of Black men was just less than 3 points away from being a U.S. Senator and that Georgia’s sane and savvy Black electorate and others had to put in that much sweat to keep him away from that seat. We agree with this assessment here …

Sherrilyn Ifill @SIfill_

The closeness of this race is the among the most depressing and ominous things I've seen in American politics in my lifetime.

• Still: turnout broke records in Georgia, particularly for a run-off. More than 3.5 million people voted in Georgia: or 32 percent of the state’s entire population of 10.8 million. About 1.85 million of those voted early or before election day - that was 53 percent of the runoff electorate … or more than half. In fact, 76,000 voters who did not vote on Election Day ended up voting in the runoff. More here …

  

• The ultimate Black mathematical formula worked in Georgia, as it always works everywhere: More Black voters = less white supremacy.

• Looking at the turnout map on December 6th …

Robert Brown @truthtold8

The Warnock-Walker race results are like a Green book of places to avoid in Georgia.

• Yes, it does. Pretty much all of rural-exurban, non-metropolitan Georgia voted for Walker …

• Let’s also be real in this conversation: the people who voted for and quietly hyped Herschel Walker are intrinsically racist and spiteful. There is no “both-sides” to this conversation. There should be no effort to try to understand them, given the absolutely disgraceful spectacle, cartoonish caricature that Walker clearly was. So, no, we don’t want to see post-mortem profiles where journalists are still going into dingy roadside breakfast spots off Georgia highways or in to White evangelical mega-churches to talk to innocent-acting White voters who try to explain why they voted for Herschel Walker. And don’t let them use “abortion” - “oh, well, I’m a one-issue voter, y’all, and abortion is my issue” - as a cover for their racism.

• Let’s also be real about how significant a factor racist anti-Black voter suppression in Georgia was in making this election much more difficult and close than it needed to be. Black voters and others in primarily urban and suburban or metropolitan counties faced significant barriers at polling places - and, despite that, Black voters - in particular - overcame that.

• But: Warnock’s victory also underscores the tremendous demographic changes that are occurring in states like Georgia where a growing number of Black, Brown and Asian-Pacific Islander people are moving to. That’s happening more and more thanks to Atlanta metro and the transient nature of that city due to the creation of its massive and very international airport.

• Still: there must be more recognition and awareness of the history that caused the very peculiar Georgia runoff scheme. People are asking: Where exactly did this weird system come from? Glad you asked: It came from racists. More here …

Eugene Scott @Eugene_Scott

Georgia’s runoff system was created in 1964 after the urging of Denmark Groover, who blamed Black voters for a reelection loss and proposed runoffs. Groover later acknowledged the runoff system was intended to suppress Black political representation.

washingtonpost.comGeorgia’s runoff system was created to dilute Black voting powerGeorgia’s runoff system was created in 1964 after the urging of a powerful segregationist. Now, 58 years later, two Black men are competing for a U.S. Senate seat.

• Which means: now it’s time to not only flip Georgia’s governor’s mansion, but to also flip its state legislature so people can get rid of it. This sentiment applies nationwide. Any state or place where there are policymakers destroying voting rights should be politically disrupted and flipped so those policymakers can be removed.