In Georgia, ‘tis the damn season for holiday celebrations and early voting this year, with the push on for just over two weeks until the dual January 5 runoffs that will decide control of the Senate.
Nearly 5 million voters turned out for the November 3 general election. While even Senate runoffs in the state have seen almost half of those voters drop off, given the high interest and engaged political bases, this race could set runoff records. In an interview with the Associated Press, Emory University professor Bernard Fraga, predicted turnout could reach 4 million — around 80 percent of the general election turnout.
The two previous Senate runoffs in the past four decades haven’t reached near that level — in 1992 and 2008. But neither were decisive in control of the Senate and in determining whether a new Democratic president would have unified party control or if Republicans could retain a firewall. Republicans have gained ground in every single statewide runoff dating back to 1992. But the state’s demographics and politics are changing, so that historical
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.