Tuesday’s U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia have attracted a historic level of attention. By the time it is over, a half-billion dollars is expected to have flowed into the state to help Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock defeat incumbent Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
Stacey Abrams, founder of Fair Fight Action, jumped into an online DJ battle to urge the virtual audience to vote. “For right now, we can at least make sure that everyone shows up to vote,” she said, “so we have two senators to make sure we have covid response and we’ve got stimulus money coming back to Georgia.”
Half a billion in campaign expenditures is a good start. Maybe we should do this more often.
Despite historical trends being against Democrats in such contests, control of the Senate hinging on a pair of runoffs in a single state puts Tuesday’s elections in a different category. Wins by Ossoff and Warnock would give the Joe Biden administration the ability to pursue an aggressive legislative agenda for the next two years (Sens. Joe, Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, etc. permitting). It would also keep Vice President Kamala Harris in the national spotlight as the tie-breaking vote in a 50-50 Senate.
Democratic activists fueled by the flood of donations and constrained by the coronavirus are moving beyond traditional campaigning methods, reports the Washington Post:
To court Black voters, who make up a third of Georgia’s electorate and are one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting groups, more than a dozen groups are going beyond convention. They are hosting pop-up concerts and asking DJs at hip-hop clubs to encourage clubgoers to talk to “voting ambassadors” in VIP booths. Organizers are popping into Zoom birthday and graduation parties to talk about the importance of the election. And they have targeted immigrant communities and public housing projects — seeking out people characterized as low-propensity voters who may have been overlooked in previous elections.
Some have combined holiday season charity efforts with voter-education and rides-to-the-polls efforts. Mobilizing Black voters, a reliable Democratic constituency, is a key focus, not just in the Atlanta metro area but in Augusta, Savannah, Macon, Albany and Columbus.
“Where regular campaigns talk to voters two to five times a cycle, we try to talk to [Black men] at least 12 or 13 times,” said W. Mondale Robinson, founder of the Black Male Voter Project. “When I talk to them, I’m not having a traditional political conversation. I’m having a conversation about giving them a tool to address some of the things plaguing them, and that tool is their vote. It’s not like I’m forcing politics on them in a political space. I’m talking to them in their space about politics, so it’s more comfortable, it’s more authentic to their life.”
Notably, the flood of cash into the accounts of such groups means some are able for the first time to pay a stipend to volunteers. With the havoc the pandemic has wrought on the economy and personal finances, the contests are a kind of financial stimulus of their own.
Abrams’s Fair Fight Action raised $22 million between Nov. 24 and Dec. 16, the Post reports. FFA gave away most of it to grass-roots organizations working to turn out voters of color, per a spokesman.
Helen Butler, the executive director of the nonpartisan Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, said the resources available combined with the political stakes allow her to do more. That flexibility is going around:
“Everybody understands the country is at stake, not just Georgia,” Butler said. “We’re getting a lot of support we don’t ordinarily get. . . . We’ve been doing this for 20 years. We’ve always had to do stuff with a lot of volunteers. This time we’re able to give people little stipends.”
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Felicia Davis, convener of the Clayton County Black Women’s Roundtable, also a nonpartisan group, said the additional support has enabled her to hire more canvassers and give them a bigger stipend. She said she had 30 canvassers doing four hours a week at $15 per hour in the general election — now she has 50 canvassers at 30 hours per week and $20 per hour. And although she has more people and money, she wishes she had more time.
Face-to-face interactions are the most effective at turning out votes. In general elections with dozens of candidates vying for attention and volunteers’ time, only well-funded federal campaigns have the financial resources and attract the volunteer interest to mount statewide efforts of this scope, and then only in swing states. The rest get mailers, TV and social media ads and whatever catch-as-catch-can efforts state and local Democrats can muster with in-state fundraising and a coordinated-campaign allowance. Having only two Democrats on the ballot in a single state next Tuesday and a half billion dollars fueling get-out-the-vote efforts sets these contests apart.
Polling averages show a slight edge for both Democrats, for whatever that is worth. A record 3 million voters cast ballots early, and those will strongly favor Democrats and make Republicans nervous (voting in conservative districts lagged). But as always, Republicans bat last.
When the dust settles, what I will look for is any improved performance in counties where Democrats typically underperform. Georgia is blue today by the faintest of hues. The money flooding in to aid these activist groups will disappear after Tuesday as quickly as the light in your bedroom when you turn off the switch. What matters for Georgia’s future is what turnout infrastructure persists once the cash flow returns to a trickle and the dozens of local nonprofits return to trying to keep on their own lights.