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 not Teresa. 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.

Teresa made headlines this week after a fiery speech at Georgia Equality’s Evening 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 about Teresa’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. But Teresa’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 stop Teresa from 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, Teresa still 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, Teresa kept 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.

Please join me in making a monthly contribution to her campaign. Even $3 a month can help put the fighter Georgia needs in the U.S. Senate.

Love is love,

Patricia Lassiter

She’s also been tying Perdue to Roy Moore (R. AL) in her attacks:

Right across the Chattahoochee River from Teresa’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.

David Perdue is too extreme for Georgia. He has always put party before country – even when it meant supporting a credibly accused sex offender. Donate $5 right now so we can show the country what real Georgia values are about.

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.”

Will you chip in $5 to Teresa’s campaign today, so that Georgia can finally have a Senator with the courage to stand up FOR us, not TO us?

-Team Tomlinson

Click here to donate to Tomlinson’s campaign.