Georgia, Message Box, and How to Help
The first month of every new subscription will be donated to grassroots organizations in Georgis
It all comes down to Georgia.
It is almost impossible to overstate the stakes in the two January 5th runoff elections in Georgia. If Democrats win both races, Joe Biden has a chance to pass his economic, health care, and climate plans. He will be able to confirm his cabinet and appoint judges. Mitch McConnell will be nothing more than a dour annoyance — a grumpy speed bump on the road to progress. If Democrats don’t win both races, well … things get much more difficult. I can’t remember a non-Presidential election of this much consequence.
State of the Race(s)
According to the FiveThirtyEight polling average, both races are incredibly close. Republican David Perdue leads Jon Ossoff 48.9 percent to 48.1 percent and Republican Kelly Loeffler is ahead of Raphael Warnock 48.5 percent to 48.3 percent. I know everyone reading this is about to throw their computer/phone/tablet out the window at the mention of polls after what happened in November. To be clear — I have no idea if these polls are correct. They probably aren’t, but I would at least note that the polling was more accurate in Georgia in this past election than almost anywhere else.
Whether you believe the polls or not, I think we can assume that both of these races are very close and very winnable. Of course, this isn’t easy. In November, Perdue received 100,000 more votes than Ossoff. While Warnock had more total votes than Loeffler, it was a multi-candidate “jungle primary” and the Republican candidates received more total votes than the Democrats. The November results are interesting, but not particularly instructive when it comes to what will happen in January.
There were some hopes that Donald Trump consistently bellowing about rigged elections would depress Republican turnout. And there were fears that Democrats would be complacent after defeating Trump. But based on the first week of in-person early voting it appears neither of those things have happened. Turnout has been close to the pace of the general election.
Off-cycle runoff elections are all about which side can do a better job of turning out their voters at an unusual and unexpected time of the year. Grassroots organizers will be the difference between a Senate that passes Biden’s agenda and a Senate that obstructs him at every turn. So, I am going to donate the first month of every new subscription to Message Box between now and the end of the year to Crooked Media’s Every Last Vote Fund which goes to grassroots organizations in Georgia. Crooked Media is working with America Votes - Georgia and Working America to:
Help make sure the organizers who've been there 365 days a year are getting as much funding as the candidates themselves.
Contact working class voters in every community across 159 counties who are on the fence about who to vote for.
Paid subscribers to Message Box also receive additional posts and a weekly Q&A thread where we discuss every political issue under the sun.
If you would like to give directly to the Democratic campaigns in Georgia, you can do so through the Get Mitch or Die Trying fund which splits contributions between the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns. Also please be to go to Vote Save America for volunteer opportunities in Georgia.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.