GA-Sen A: “Georgia Democrats Haven’t Won A Senate Seat In 19 Years. Two Women Say They Can.”
I think one of the most exciting primaries for the U.S. Senate is the Democratic primary in Georgia to unseat U.S. Senator David Perdue (R. GA). Democrats are proving to be competitive in this changing deep red to purple state. With U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R. GA) retiring early due to his Parkinson’s Disease, both seats are up for grabs creating a bigger path to a Democratic U.S. Senate Majority. Right now, Matt Lieberman (D. GA), son of former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (I. CT), is the only declared Democrat running in to the special election for Isakson’s seat but other Democrats are expected to join.
Perdue’s seat had brought in some big and interesting names to the race including former congressional candidate, Jon Ossoff (D. GA), Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry (D. GA), former Lt. Governor nominee Sarah Riggs Amico (D. GA) and former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson (D. GA). While all four candidates have something to unique to bring to the race and it remains to be seen who will emerge as the frontrunner but this is by far one of the most exciting races to follow. Many Kossacks are familiar with Ossoff coming to close to winning a vacant congressional seat in a major special election in the first year of Trump’s Presidency. Terry was featured in the latest season of Queer Eye on Netflix. But the Huffington Post has a great new piece out about the female candidates running for Senate and it’s worth a read:
You may not have heard much about them, but two viable, progressive candidates are running to unseat Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) in 2020 and both have a shot at making history as the state’s first elected female senator.Sarah Riggs Amico, an executive at a family-run trucking company, ran for lieutenant governor last year alongside Stacey Abrams’ historic bid for governor. Amico didn’t win, but she came relatively close and ― as she’ll happily point out ― got way more votes than Perdue did when he won his Senate seat in 2014.
Teresa Tomlinson, an attorney, was the twice-elected mayor of Columbus, the state’s second-largest city and a majority-minority community. During her eight years in office, she was named six times to Georgia Trend Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Georgians” list and led Columbus to be rated one of the “25 Best Run Cities in America” by WalletHub, a Washington-based finance website.Both have shown they can fundraise. Both have picked up key endorsements. Both have a clear policy platform and a strategy for appealing to voters in Democratic and Republican parts of the state. Neither is getting much national attention. Why is that?It’s partly because the field is wide open in this Senate Democratic primary, which isn’t until May 19. It’s partly because another candidate in the mix, filmmaker Jon Ossoff, already benefits from national name recognition from his high-profile but unsuccessful House bid in 2017. But it’s also because national groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and EMILY’s List are still watching to see if it’s worth investing in a real fight in Georgia, where Democrats have teetered on the edge of winning a statewide election for years but fallen just short every time.“Georgia has been like the Lucy’s football of American politics,” said Jeffrey Lazarus, a political science professor at Georgia State University. “Time and time and time again, Democrats have been getting 46, 47, 49%, going back to 2000 in Senate races and governor’s race. … Demographically, it does look like any year now it could be the time when a Democrat wins.”Amico and Tomlinson insist that Georgia is ripe for a Democratic victory next year, saying a mix of factors give the party an edge: the state’s rapidly changing demographics around Atlanta, where the population is diversifying and threatening the GOP’s grip on power; the “Stacey Abrams phenomenon,” as Tomlinson put it, meaning Democratic voters are still fired up after she nearly won last year’s governor’s race; and the fact that both Senate seats are open in 2020 and neither will be held by a longtime Republican anymore.
Be sure to read their interviews and when you’re done, please do donate and get involved with Georgia Democratic candidate you support for U.S. Senate:
