GA-Sen: “I told them they could kiss my ass if they thought I would stand down for this.”
Since I’m waiting for my flight back to Los Angeles, I wanted to say I had a terrific time in Atlanta, Georgia. This was my first time in the city and the state and I had a blast! I’ve had a great interest in Georgia politics and I believe we can push the Peach State Blue this coming election. I’ve also been loving the aggressive campaign former Columbus Mayor, Teresa Tomlinson (D. GA), has been running to out U.S. Senator David Perdue (R. GA). Here’s a great e-mail I received from her campaign:
With most politicians, it can be difficult to know where they really stand on important issues. But notTeresa. She’s been a fighter for progressive causes for decades, and that’s why I’m proud to support her in this campaign and excited to show you another example of her leadership.
Teresamade headlines this week after a fiery speech at Georgia Equality’sEvening for Equality. She talked about being in the trenches of the fight for equality with everyone in our LGBTQ+ family and why that fight continues today.
The best evidence of what someone is going to do is what they’ve already done. So, I’d like to tell you aboutTeresa’s history. If you don’t identify as LGBTQ+, it can be easy to forget that not that long ago LGBTQ+ rights were virtually non-existent: no right to marry who you love, no right to adopt a child with who you love, no right to be with the person you love in their – or your – final hours. For many Georgians, acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community has been a journey – and we are glad that there has been such a positive sea change of acceptance. ButTeresa’s been with us from the very beginning – through many battles.
But my favorite story? In 2004, Georgia Republicans, in an effort to divide and conquer to win an election, proposed a statewide referendum to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. It was popular at the time, but that didn’t stopTeresafrom writing a letter to the editor in strong opposition. She presciently wrote: “History will record this bigotry toward gay Americans precisely as it has recorded the persecution of blacks, women, and Jews.”
To this day,Teresastill says, “I didn’t care if I was ever invited to another dinner party, or placed on another Christmas Card list, or elected to anything – they could kiss my ass if they thought I would stand down for this.”
And while that referendum passed,Teresakept fighting. She never quit until what was wrong was made right.
I love that about her. And when she’s in the Senate fighting for healthcare or childcare or college loan reform or any of the other pressing issues of today, you’ll love that fighting spirit, too.
She’s also been tying Perdue to Roy Moore (R. AL) in her attacks:
Right across the Chattahoochee River fromTeresa’s home, Alabama voters are once again dealing with alleged sexual assaulter and child predator Roy Moore as a candidate for U.S. Senate – and who could possibly support someone so reprehensible? David Perdue.
David Perdue was totally behind Moore last time– the same Roy Moore who is a once-removed, once-suspended, radical ideologue of an Alabama Chief Justice who defied federal court orders, associated with neo-Confederates and white nationalists, and couldn’t stop spewing bigoted views on race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and Islam.
You might think there’s no one as anti-choice as Roy Moore – until you consider the three bills David Perdue introduced in the U.S. Senate in a single year that would functionally outlaw and criminalize abortion.
If Democrats don’t win back the Senate the David Perdue-Roy Moore duo would have free rein to team up and create the most anti-choice legislation you can imagine.
It doesn’t stop there. Roy Moore said Civil Rights “started to create new rights in 1965, and today we’ve got a problem.” What does Perdue think about voting rights? When a Georgia voter asked him about the 53,000 unprocessed voter applications for the 2018 election, Perdue snatched the cell phone from their hand.
And it gets worse. When three women – two of whom are sexual assault survivors – asked David Perdue whether he would vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, he physically pushed them aside and hid in a men’s bathroom. When they tried to shake his hand, he said:“Don’t touch me.”
