On November 3rd I was apprehensive as the votes were being counted in the presidential race and very disappointed as a succession of Republican senators won re-election in races that were supposed to be close and were not. I had contributed the most money to politicians with zero results. I wasn't surprised that there were more Republican votes in the special Senate election than Democratic votes and I was disappointed to see that David Perdue has a plurality in his Senate race versus Jon Ossoff. As the results trickled in from Democratic strongholds, it became apparent that there would be not one, but two runoff elections.
Given the success downticket for the Republicans in the general election, I was not optimistic about the chances succeeding in a runoff election. After all neither Warnock nor Ossoff had held elective office and one of the men is Black and the other is Jewish and they were running in Georgia against sitting senators. Ossoff's task seemed particularly daunting since Perdue's margin was 88,000 votes. Past history favored the Republicans, since they usually fared considerably better in a runoff than in a general election.
In the two months since the election, both the stakes and dynamics changed. First of all, with 48 Democrats and a Democratic ticket elected to the presidency (Vice-resident Harris!), the Democrats had a chance to win the majority in the United States Senate. Republicans’ message was distorted by sitting President Trump insisting that he rightfully won the election, while the senators were claiming that they were a buffer from socialist rule by the Democrats.
Warnock wasn't directly confrontational while Ossoff was. Newfound evidence of insider trading also helped the Democrats’case. Georgia narrowly went for Biden giving Democrats some hope. People realized that Stacey Abrams had done a tremendous job of working against voter suppression and registering Democratic voters. Trump's behavior kept interest and passion high. No one knew if the enhanced passion and interest would help the Democrats or Republicans.
I've read a couple of articles praising Warnock's campaign and also remarking about his historic win in the old South. He wisely highlighted his soft side and kept the focus on the change htat he would provide. He did not make a huge mistake in his debates with Loeffler and impressive candidate. He will be a good senator.
I think that Jon Ossoff deserves more credit than he has been given, to date. He was facing an incumbent who had won election by 8% in 2016 and who had a plurality of 88,000 in the general election. I've read that Warnock may be a national candidate in this decade. Ossoff had been criticized for losing a winnable house seat in 2017 and was viewed by some as a "B" team opponent for Perdue. He got over 50% in the Democratic primary and held Perdue under 50% in the general election. He campaigned hard before the general election and just as hard after and leading up to the runoff. He raised oodles of money (which hadn't had much effect in November) and tag-teamed with Warnock. It worked and he will be in the US Senate for at least the next six years. For Ossoff, who is Jewish, to win in Georgia is nearly as remarkable as Warnock.
In the last decade, I've seen many candidates disappoint trying to prevail in winnable elections. I was prepared for it to happen again, but the state of Georgia and the campaigns of the Senators'-elect have managed to win in what is still a purple state, at best. Congratulations to Rev. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff. They will be assets in the US Senate.
