It’s a lot of pressure. As Kamala Harris visits Georgia, voters brace for a Senate runoff that is riveting the nation
From the time she stepped onto the podium, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was greeted by thunderous car horns at a drive-in event near Savannah just days before voters decide their next Senators in contentious races that will shape Harris’ and President-elect Joe Biden’s governing future.
Harris reminded the enthused voters at Garden City Stadium of the stakes of the runoffs during the rally for Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and native Savannahian, the Rev. Raphael Warnock. They are challenging Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively.
The pair of Georgia races will determine which party controls the Senate as Biden prepares to take office on Jan. 20. Both Biden and Trump are scheduled to campaign in Georgia Monday.
Harris also encouraged voters whose faith in elections have been challenged to “dig deep and see in our hearts in minds what is possible.”
“This moment will pass and years from now our children, grandchildren and others will look in our eyes and ask us where were you at that moment,” she said. “We will tell them what we did.”
But as loud as the horns were, the residents, volunteers and grassroot organizations among the crowd could not shake an even louder concern: a politically and racially divided nation ahead of Senate runoffs that will decide how the nation proceeds through a deadly pandemic.
“Everything we hear, like the soul of a nation in the past the past four years, I haven't recognized my own country. And I haven't felt a part of it. I haven't recognized it,” said longtime Savannah resident Christina Tarbell. “I'm feeling hopeful. It’s a lot of pressure for a little state, right. But it's hope for our future.”
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Still, the Biden administration will have an uphill battle trying to reunite a country fractured by race, politics and a pandemic. For the past few months, Georgia politics has seen a tumultuous election season rife with widespread – and debunked – voter fraud allegations from the GOP, racial injustice and a worsening pandemic.
Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks Sunday during a campaign event with Jon Ossoff and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris. (Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News)
Harris’ visit came as the 117th Congress was sworn in Sunday and saw tensions among congressional members — one of them first-term Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — about wearing masks. Just hours after the uproar, The Washington Post reported lame duck Trump tried to convince Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” more votes during an hourlong conversation Saturday.
Harris called Trump’s behavior a “bold abuse of power,” reasserting that things will be different under the Biden administration.
‘Cautiously optimistic’
While Sunday’s event energized voters ahead of Tuesday’s runoff, residents and rally-goers are still concerned about the outcome.
Supporters cheer from their car during a campaign rally for senate candidates Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff Sunday evening at Garden City Stadium. (Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News)
Tarbell, 49, has lived in Savannah when it was a deeply red city and saw it shift to a blue town during the election of Barack Obama. But even with the headway made by Warnock and Ossoff’s campaigns, she’s cautiously optimistic that Georgia will elect two Democratic senators.
“It may be possible, but I'm still so scared to say that," she said. "Yes, it's possible for us to elect two Democratic senators. I'm hopeful, but I don't know, like, deep in my core.”
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Tarbell said as she sat in an SUV with her mom who drove down from Delaware: “I've been silenced at work and other places, because of my views. And I'm just like some, I guess, cautiously optimistic, but really scared."
In four polls released by 270 to win since Dec. 29, Ossoff and Warnock were ahead. Fivethirtyeight.com as of Sunday has Ossoff up by 1.8 points and Warnock leading by 2.2 points. This isn't the type of data, though, that gives nervous Democratic voters much confidence.
Savannah resident Ramsey Thurmond, 22, attended the Sunday rally with his family, and atop the young voter’s mind is COVID and student debt relief.
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“Right now, the issue’s over the $2,000 stimulus check, and I feel like that shouldn't even be a discussion,” he said. “For my friends, the biggest concern is COVID relief because their parents are struggling. They're out of work. They've only got $600 and they want an increase. It is the biggest concern right now.”
Thurmond said his friends have spent the past few weeks knocking on doors and calling constituents with the hopes they can get Ossoff and Warnock elected. As for Thurmond: “I'm praying, I'm hoping so.”
Senate candidate Jon Ossoff waves at the crowd after speaking Sunday during a campaign event with Rev. Raphael Warnock and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris Sunday evening at Garden City Stadium. (Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News)
Georgia’s political landscape has thrust it into the national spotlight, catching the eye of political and out-of-state grassroots organizations. Chantale Wong drove from Washington D.C. with a small group to galvanize Asian-American voters ahead of the runoff. Since Dec. 7, the group has knocked on 6,500 doors of Asian-American voters in Savannah.
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Wong said everything is at stake this election season, adding Asian Americans have had to deal with increased racism because of Trump’s comments. “We have to have healing, and reverse all of that,” she said. She was also critical of Trump’s call to Raffensperger.
“They [the GOP] gotta get over it. I mean, it's over,” Wong said. “You know, we won, especially here in Georgia. The phone call to the Secretary of State [Saturday] is illegal. It's absolutely un-American. We need to stop that.”
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Carly Gabrielson, 34, flew from Eugene, Oregon with her coworkers to energize voters, after securing a win for Congressman Peter de Fazio.
“It is about Georgia voters and who would represent their values best, but we are all interconnected in this country and to the outcome and consequences of elections,” Gabrielson said.