Want to help flip a Republican out of their Senate seat in Georgia this November? How about two?
What’s that you say?
Yes, two Senate seats. Even though only 1/3 of Senate seats are up for re-election in any given year, and each state’s Senators’ terms are staggered, in 2020 we have a unique situation in Georgia. David Perdue’s Senate term is up this year, so his race is the “normal” one. But when Senator Johnny Isakson resigned due to his health last year, it set up the need for a special election to formally elect someone to serve out the rest of his term. The governor of Georgia appointed Kelly Loeffler to serve until the special election.
David Perdue has voted in alignment with Trump 94% of the time and his approval rating with voters is only at 50%. His race has been rated Lean to Likely Republican.
Kelly Loeffler, a business executive with no political experience, has only been in her seat since December. Her appointment by Gov. Kemp was widely seen as an attempt by Kemp to improve his (and other Republicans) standing with suburban Republican women. She has been hyper-partisan right out of the gate. This race is only considered to be Lean Republican.
Georgia has been getting bluer, and the demographics of the state are changing, but widespread voter suppression makes it all the more important to drive huge turnout to flip these seats.
Who are the Democratic challengers?
Perdue’s seat: Jon Ossoff won the Democratic primary and will face Perdue in November. He’s proven to be great at attracting donations — in the week following his primary win, his campaign raised over $2 million dollars. Click to visit his campaign website HERE. Also, watch this video of him on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell the night he announced he was running for the Senate seat:
Loeffler’s seat: Who will be running in this special election is very fluid. Loeffler is running and has the backing of the Governor. Rep. Doug Collins (R) has verbally announced he’ll run for the seat, and is an ardent advocate for Trump. The bitter fight between the two for Republican voters in Georgia could create a scenario where the Democrat wins the race. Because this is a special election, there is no primary. If no candidate gets 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff after the November 3 election. You can find all the candidates running HERE.
How you can help the Democrats flip these Senate seats
No surprise, it’s going to take good old fashioned organizing and investment.
1. Donate to flip the Georgia Senate seats. Swing Left has a Georgia Senate fund where you can donate to one or both of these Senate races. When you click the link, you have the option of equally splitting your donation between the two races, or just give to one. (Just click where is says “Customize Amounts.”) With two seats on the line, as well as Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, know that the Republicans are not going to let Georgia go blue without a fight.
2. Help with voter registration drives in the state. Get involved with Stacey Abram’s organization, Fair Fight, as they work to drive turnout among Georgia voters. As another idea, share Rock the Vote’s voter registration page for Georgia (HERE) on your social media pages.
3. Support the Georgia Democratic party and sign up for their updates. Donate to them, ask them how you can help with voter registration drives, or boosting the number of volunteers they have to help with campaigns.
4. Are you in Georgia? Volunteer to help flip this Senate seat! Swing Left is one of many organizations that is organizing in Georgia, and they need volunteers. Sign up to let them know you want to help!
5. Support Georgia’s League of Women Voters. They organize voter registration drives and have events to inform and connect voters with the candidates.
Do you have other ideas of how we can kick out two Republicans from the Senate in 2020, particularly ideas for folks outside the state who want to help? If so, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!
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Stacey Abrams is backing Reverand Raphael Warnock for the Georgia Senate race. Raphael Warnock had a splashy entrance into the race and has gotten the local media’s attention right away. Warnock is running for Kelly Loeffler’s Senate seat in Georgia. David Perdue is facing Jon Ossoff and Teresa Tomlinson, and several others. Jon Ossoff is running to challenge David Perdue for the Senate seat in Georgia. Teresa Tomlinson is running to challenge David Perdue for the Senate seat in Georgia.
Categories: Explainers
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