Democrats Don’t Go To Sleep At the Wheel! We Have Two Senate Run Off Races in Georgia to Still Win…

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By James Gatto

On January 3rd, 2021 the 117th Congress will convene. On that date The Senate will be comprised of 50 Republicans, 46 Democrats, with 2 Independents who caucus with the Democratic Party. So, in effect, 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. The Senate runoff election in Georgia is going to be critical for the obvious reasons (will there be Democratic majority or not?). But for another very important reason, which is not discussed very often, this will have an even greater immediate impact. Joe Biden will be preparing to nominate the heads of the 15 cabinet positions which will be vacated on January the 20th, or until their replacement this confirmed. Or, if they decide to resign before a nominee is confirmed, an interim, acting secretary may fill the role until then.

This sounds simple but far from it. Mitch McConnell indicated a few days ago that Joe Biden should be able to have the cabinet that he wants but stopped short of saying that he would confirm anyone Joe chooses. He has boundaries which he doesn’t plan on crossing. So, this means without a majority of Democrats in the Senate Joe will have to temper his choices based on who he believes Republicans will confirm, and not necessarily who he truly wants to fill the role. So, Joe’s choice may not be his first choice, but one he feels will make it past a republican Senate. While this is not necessarily unbreachable, it will be yet another example of Republican strong-arming we have become accustomed to. However, with two Senate wins by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, in the upcoming Georgia runoffs, the Senate will effectively be 50/50, with the deciding vote going to Vice President Harris. This changes the game considerably. With the Senate being a Democrat majority, Joe Biden is free to pick whoever he chooses and even a party line vote wouldn’t matter. No tempering, no compromising, just the best choice–Joe’s choice.

The Democratic Party is planning on heavily financed campaigns for both their candidates in the upcoming election. How they choose to spend that money, is going to be extremely important. The messaging here is going to have to be pinpoint perfect for both Democrats to win. Understanding that Georgia is a typically red state, winning both senatorial seats will be a huge undertaking which will require precise messaging. They cannot afford to have any mistakes of any kind, especially like the “defund the police” misnomer debacle, when defunding the police wasn’t actually what was being sought. Somehow that slogan stuck like a piece of gum on the bottom of your shoe. No matter how hard they scraped on the edge of the curb they couldn’t remove it. They cannot afford to make this kind of mistake again. It’s very simple, say what you mean. Stay away from divisive slogans, PLEASE.

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff will be going head to head with Republican incumbent David Perdue, and Rev. Raphael Warnock will be challenging Republican Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to replace Johnny Isakson after he resigned in 2019. Both Republican candidates have been under criticism for small scandals regarding their behavior. Loeffler had been accused of a stock dump based on inside information, which is a violation of insider trading laws and specifically the STOCK Act. While Perdue has not been accused of criminal behavior, he has been criticized for anti-Semitic slurs against his opponent, Jon Ossoff. Ossof called Perdue out for this during their debate rendering Perdue speechless. Perdue then dropped out of their next scheduled debate. Not a good look. Yet, despite the ugly racial slurs, Perdue was able to secure (by last count) 49.7 percent of the Georgia vote to Ossoff’s 47.9, a difference of around 89,000 votes. After an FBI investigation, Loeffler was cleared of any wrongdoing in her scandal. Cleared or not, also not a good look. Especially that she was accused of dumping stocks based on knowledge gleaned from Senate closed-door briefings about the Coronavirus. She also purchased stocks in companies who were to benefit from the pandemic. It will be up to the people of Georgia to decide if these offenses are a bridge too far, or if they hold their noses and vote for the party. Even so, with the right messaging the Democrats may turn out to be the party of choice. Georgia is listening and moving in the right direction. It can be done.

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