Georgia Turns Blue: A Democratic Takeover?

By: Avani Sethi and Katherine Lamont

After decades of sequential Republican victories, Georgie has gone blue through hard work and perseverance in the name of improving voter representation. Few can be credited for this feat other than Stacey Abrams.

In the Presidential election’s final hours, a handful of states had proved necessary to turn the tide for the Democratic Party. Of these three main states, Georgia, Florida, and Nevada, two had historically been swing states, both with respective leanings. With 16 electoral votes and Democratic Nominee Joe Biden carrying the lead with 253 electorates as of Friday, November 6th, winning Georgia would be essential to a democratic win. In the earliest hours of Saturday the 7th, five days after the election and following furious demands for recounts and supplemented ballot counting from both sides, the race was called in Georgia. For the first time in several decades, Georgia had gone blue, securing the presidency for Joe Biden.

This brings into question how exactly the Democratic party won in Georgia, a state that Trump had won back in 2016 and has been historically red. The answer lies with a Georgian House Representative: Stacey Abrams. An American politician, lawyer, and activist, Abrams had actively campaigned for the position of President-elect Biden’s running mate. She was later shortlisted for the position, but still continued to campaign for Biden’s presidency. Georgia’s 16 electoral college votes were effectively the last nail in the coffin for the Trump 2020 campaign, and after Biden’s victory was called by the Associated Press, Abrams was credited for his success by many. 

Abrams claims the key for the Democrats is their demography and organization. The African-American community is the Democratic Party’s more reliable voting block, making up about 30% of Georgia’s electorate. The state’s white population is shrinking whilst its diverse urban areas are growing, a sign of changing political winds. Abrams has continually advocated for expanding the electorate within the Democrat’s base—specifically among people of color, as they are less likely to vote. After her loss for the election of Georgian governor in 2018, Abrams focused on fighting voter suppression. She created an organization called Fair Fight, to get more voters registered and encourage voting. Abrams and Fair Fight benefited from Georgia’s 2016’s implementation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which gave people the opportunity to register to vote at the same time they applied for a driver’s license. This effort registered 800,000 new voters since 2018. By 2020, her efforts resulted in a 63% increase from 2016 for mail-in and early in-person voting ballots cast. Part of the relics of the Jim Crow South, Georgian voters are subjected to policies that suppress the Black vote, so her efforts to increase voters’ mobility and education have been a great aid. 

Because of Abram’s hard work, Biden is now the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in nearly three decades. Additionally, Georgia also has a chance to send two Democrats to the U.S. Senate. Although it will not be confirmed until the run-off elections in January, this has proven crucial in order to ensure a balance of power in the Congress. A closer number of Democrats and Republicans in Congress will help Biden pursue his agenda in the upcoming years following four years of a Republican majority.