All political eyes turn to Georgia
Georgia leans blue for the first time in decades. A hand recount of votes will not change who is president-elect, but may dictate the balance of power in the Senate.
Georgia proved to be an important state in this presidential election. This is the first time Georgians have preferred a Democratic candidate to a Republican since 1992. Joe Biden holds a lead over Donald Trump by about 0.3% or 14,000 votes.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, announced a statewide hand recount and audit on Wednesday. The recount is expected to be completed with election results certified by the deadline of Nov. 20, according to USA Today.
While the recount will not change the results of the presidential election (Biden will retain more than 270 electoral votes even without Georgia), it will have a significant impact on the Senate. UConn Political Science Professor Robert Lupton said the Senate majority will be decided by who Georgia elects.
Lupton added that the suburban Atlanta district, previously Republican, has evolved into Democratic locations. “It is the epicenter of the ‘new south’ Democrats have been campaigning to mobilize,” he said.
Lupton specifically referenced former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’ work with Fair Fight and the New Georgia Project. These two organizations founded by Abrams registered over 800,000 new voters. Abrams' focused on disengaged voters of color, as opposed to the typical undecided, moderate, often white voters.
Shannon Nee, a 2016 University of Connecticut alumna who is an Assistant Lacrosse Coach at Kennesaw State University, said that politics in Georgia is influenced by the diversity of Atlanta and other cities.
“Obviously in the areas that are farther from cities and big towns you still see some of that different Southern mentality, but living in the city of Atlanta there are so many different people and cultures that the values are changing.”
According to the Associated Press’ election map, cities like Atlanta, Athens, Savannah and Macon comprise the majority of Democratic voters. Urban centers tend to have more diversity, and lean Democratic, explained UConn Political Science Professor Paul Herrnson.
“The other blue areas in the state are where there were universities, Athens you have UGA and Cobb county is Kennesaw so the younger generations who are in college are also getting out there and voting which I think is awesome,” Nee said. “We encouraged all our players to vote—especially since a lot of the younger generations are calling for change.”
If the Georgia recount does not reveal clear winners in the state’s two Senatorial contests, Georgia is expected to hold a runoff election on January 5, 2021, just two weeks before President-elect Biden inauguration. A runoff is required when no candidate wins the required majority of votes. Neither of Georgia’s Republican senators drew a majority of votes on Election Day.
The results of the runoff will either swing the majority in the Senate to Democrats, or leave Republicans in charge and give them influence over Biden’s plans.
Millions of dollars in campaign cash is expected to funnel into Georgia for political advertising. Party leaders and interest groups have already started courting voters. In a tweet, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang announced this week that he's moving to Georgia to help try to flip the state's Senate seats. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) was the first big name to travel Georgia this week to stump with incumbent Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler.