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Georgian voters returned to the polls on Tuesday for a second round of voting that comes just four weeks after they cast their ballots in this year’s US midterm elections. This final vote could give the Democratic majority a little more comfort in the Senate. On the ballot were two Black men: Herschel Walker, the Donald Trump-backed Republican candidate and former soccer star, and Raphael Warnock, the incumbent Baptist pastor of the Democratic Party.
After Democrats’ big wins in Nevada and Arizona, which helped them take control of the Senate last month, a victory in the second-round vote in Georgia on Tuesday, Dec. for them. Democratic Party Most are a bit more comfortable there. This is important, say Steven Ekovich, a professor of American politics at American University in Paris, as several Democratic senators, including Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, “prefer to hold the Senate hostage” by way of not always voting according to the party line. It will also help reduce the need for the Vice President. Kamala Harris to vote on important pieces of legislation.
More symbolic, however, a victory in Georgia would be a “major landmark victory” for the Democratic Party because of its “historic relationship” with the civil rights leader, Progressive Martin Luther King, explained Cécile Coquet-Mokoko, a professor of American Civilization at France’s St-Quentin University. Former President Barack Obama has also supported Raphael Warnock, a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and junior senator from Georgia since January 2021, campaigning with him most recently on Thursday night in Georgia. .
The first two
This race is also important because it is the first time that two Black men, each viewed very differently by the Black community in Georgia, are the main party candidates competing for a seat in the National Assembly. The Senate. Exploring the exit from November 9 indicates that 90% of Blacks voted for Warnock, while 70% of Whites voted for Herschel Walker, a former soccer star who played at the University of Georgia and then in the NFL for 12 seasons. prize. According to Ekovich, Walker was liked by many white voters because he “fits into their caricature of what a black man is like, such as his abuse of women.” Coquet-Mokoko adds that Walker is “one of the Donald Trump‘imitaters’, as he has presented himself as a non-political person who will represent ordinary citizens and not worry about allegations of sexual abuse, which then would be “political suicide” if they were revealed in the pre-Trump era.
This is the first time the battleground state of Georgia has held a second round of voting since Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed the order. bill SB 202 into law on March 25, 2021. In a state already known for its voter suppression tactics, this new election code, among other things, helps reduce the time between midterm elections term and second round elections from 9 to 4 weeks, which means new voters cannot register to vote because the November 7 deadline has passed and provides voters with in-country and absentee ballots a much shorter time to vote on time. Coquet-Mokoko explains that these voter suppression laws “could have a major impact on the election if there is a high turnout of Republican voters, because of the well-known fact that Democratic voters owners tend to vote by mail or vote early.” “The people of Georgia have had to deal with a long history of voter suppression,” she added. After all, the run is itself a legacy of voter suppression.” Even so, voters lined up and arrived number for the first day of early voting in Georgia on October 17.
This election vote also “in a sense represents the dilemma unfolding in Republican Party, on what to do with this party’s Trump base and how to return to a party that focuses on conservative principles,” rather than just attracting media attention, Eskovich said. After the poor performance of many Trump-approved candidates such as Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Eskovich and Sean Safford, Associate Professor at SciencePo Paris, agree that if Walker loses Tuesday’s vote, latest poll hints that he will, these elections will demonstrate that Trump’s grip on the Republican party is loosening. It will also demonstrate that his strategy of backing a celebrity willing to “go the right way” and “show their allegiance to Trump” will no longer secure widespread support from voters.
Look to the future
According to the Center for Information & Research on Citizen Learning and Participation (Circle), the proportion of young adults (ages 18-29) participating in the 2022 midterm elections is the second-highest in nearly three decades. This seems to suggest that more and more young people are becoming aware of the racial history behind voter suppression laws, especially those introduced into law in southern states during the era, Coquet-Mokoko said. the peak of Jim Crow, as well as the importance of voting. .
According to the House of Representatives of decision In order to pass a nationwide same-sex marriage encryption law on July 19, which was overturned by the Supreme Court of Roe v Wade on June 24, Coquet-Mokoko felt that Georgia could be used as a wallet. example of “the need to protect the right to vote”. That is, if Democrats are brave enough to introduce a strengthening bill Election Act of 1965, was introduced to ban racist voting practices across the country, especially in southern states. Coquet-Mokoko concluded that in the end, it could be a great way to bring Republicans and Democrats together, as both sides “feel that their right to vote is under threat.” .
