Where I vote in Marietta, there was a sign (Figure 1) stating “Georgia is Not Left Liberal but Warnock is! Say No Now!” Further away, there was another sign (Figure 2) with this message: “Want 6 More Years of Woke Weirdos.” Next to the handwritten sign was a “Herschel for Senate” sign. On Sunday, two men and one woman were standing on a major intersection about a mile from my home. They had a large Herschel banner, and each was wearing MAGA red hats, and waving to the folks in cars that drove past them. They didn’t get a thumbs up from us.

The election for senate was today. The polling stations closed by the time you read this post. I don’t know the result, but I’ll update this post as soon as the winner is announced.

UPDATE The race was called by the AP and CNN and Rev. Dr. Rafael Warnock won re-election.

Hypocrisy Alive and Well in My State

Steve Phillips, the founder of Democracy in Color and author of Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority, wrote an important article in today’s Guardian. Democracy in Color is a political media organization focused on the intersection of race and politics. His book, Brown is the New White, is a New York Times and Washington Post Best Seller. Phillips, in his book, says that “explosive population growth of people of color in America over the past fifty years has laid the foundation for a New American Majority consisting of progressive people of color (23 percent of all eligible voters) and progressive whites (28 percent of all eligible voters).

The first idea that he discusses relates directly to election that ended tonight in Georgia. In his article, Georgia Senate voters had moral choice. White Christians are choosing hypocrisy and he wonders “why do we have such low expectations for white voters?” He asserts:

The midterm elections brought into stark relief just how many white voters are willing to make a mockery of showing any pretense of concern for democracy, good governance or even the barest qualifications for our country’s highest offices. As unfortunate as that behavior is, what’s even more dangerous for the future of the country is how resigned the rest of the country has become to the anti-democratic and intellectually unjustifiable voting patterns of much of white America.

Steve Phillips, Georgia Senate voters have a moral choice. White Christians are choosing hypocrisy, The Guardian, December 6, 2022.

Inexperienced and Unqualified Candidates

The United States saw many inexperienced and unqualified candidates, most elevated by Donald Trump, run for state and federal offices during the 2022 midterms. Phillips points out that Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and other state put forward as nominee for the US Senate people who’d never held any elective office.

Phillips looks carefully at our election in Georgia. He maintains that:

The situation is most stark in Georgia, which has its Senate runoff election on 6 December. After the African American civil rights leader and minister Raphael Warnock was elected to the US Senate from Georgia in 2021, Trump recruited the former Georgia football player Herschel Walker – who lived and may still live in Texas – and persuaded him to throw his hat in Georgia’s 2022 Senate race.

Beyond Walker’s blatant lack of qualifications – or for that matter even interest – in government, his candidacy has been repeatedly rocked by scandal. Phillips explains: “From alleged domestic violence and stalking (including allegedly holding a gun to his ex-wife’s head) to reportedly fathering at least four children he has not publicly acknowledged (while opining in the media about the ills of absentee fathers) to the rank hypocrisy of championing anti-abortion views while having allegedly paid for two abortions of women he impregnated, the scale of Walker’s previously disqualifying revelations is at a truly Trumpian level.”

Moving the Guy from Texas

Phillips quotes Georgia pastor Jamal Bryant who put it this way:

When the Republican party of Georgia moved Herschel Walker from Texas to Georgia so that he could run for Senate, it was because change was taking too fast in the post-antebellum South, and there were some … who were not prepared for a Black man and a Jewish man to go to the Senate at the exact same time.

Jamal Bryant, Georgia pastor

We have lived through an election that was absurd. Phillips takes to task white Christians who vote for an obvious unchristian Walker over the Christian pastor Warnock. My own observation is that the press has ignored this. There have been few questions raised about this. I wondered today on a Twitter post whether the Atlanta Journal Constitution is biased toward Walker. In an article published today by political writer Greg Bluestein, side by side photos were shown as part of his article (Figure 3).

Where are the questions?

According to the author, 88% of white born-again Christians chose to vote against church leader Warnock. Warnock has served two years in the Senate, and has shown leadership abilities that Walker and his republican allies lack. In the end, Phillips raises the important idea that has been missing (in my opinion) throughout the Georgia race for senate. He says:

Despite the absolute absurdity of this situation, the rest of the country has collectively shrugged its shoulders and moved on without any expressions of outrage or attempts to insist on some shred of fidelity to the notion that we’re supposed to be choosing responsible leaders to serve in our highest governing body. Where are the articles and stories interviewing Georgia’s white Christians about why they are voting for the decidedly unchristian Walker over the Christian pastor Warnock? Where are the calls, tweets and emails to reporters demanding that they ask such questions?

Conclusions

There are some areas of Georgia that are left leaning and perhaps we can use the term “liberal.” When I moved to Cobb County in 1993, I moved from Decatur, GA which was left leaning. Cobb was clearly right leaning. It was a Republican strong hold for years, and in fact, Newt Gingrich represented part of the county in the U.S. House of Representatives. Over time, Cobb County moved toward the center of the political spectrum. And since the 2018 election, has moved to the left.

Georgia is Not Left Liberal. It certainly has moved from the far right. In fact, Warnock flipped many rural counties. This was surprising. I recently drove through many rural counties on my way to the South Georgia coast. Along the highways there were many gigantic signs showing an image of Governor Kemp, who had just won re-election by a wide margin, reminding citizens to kick Warnock out of the senate, and to vote for Herschel. This was before the runoff. I was concerned for Warnock.

The results of the election tonight will raise more questions than provide an answer. But for all of us, the end starts a new beginning. Stay tuned. And check back to find out who won the election in Georgia.