Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are being projected to win the dual Senate runoff elections in Georgia by several major media outlets, including the New York Times. If this result holds, it will split the United States Senate 50-50 and give Democrats control by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote.
We’re looking at an incredible moment in American history. For so many years, our politics have been dominated by corporate money and abject racism. In so many places, that is more true than it’s ever been. But in a state that is famous both for being the Confederate setting of Gone With the Wind and the home of Martin Luther King Jr., people of color organized and mobilized in unprecedented fashion to overcome the forces of hate and privilege and deliver a crucial election victory.
Now, based on the deadline to certify votes, Raphael Warnock, the pastor at Martin Luther King Jr.’s church in Atlanta, could be sworn into the US Senate on January 15th — what would have been MLK’s 92nd birthday.
Organizations like Fair Fight, the New Georgia Project, GALEO, and the Asian American Advocacy Fund deserve the credit for this monumental victory, repeating the feat that they pulled off in November. The Democrats’ late (but not too late) decision to run on economic populism and the promise of $2000 stimulus checks (which again, I proposed in mid-November!) also helped a whole lot. These victories prove that giving people something to vote for is absolutely crucial.
I hope that Joe Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress carefully note that voters of color delivered them the Senate majority tonight while 150 Republicans are going to try to overthrow democracy tomorrow. Every single policy that Democrats pursue over the next two years should be optimized to help people of color, who not only made this slim majority possible but have also been disproportionately ravaged by COVID-19. Doing so will guarantee that the most good is done for the most people, given the systemic inequality and injustice plaguing this country. Democrats must also immediately enact strong new voter right protections, because Republicans are going to go into overdrive with state voter suppression laws.
I also hope that Kelly Loeffler sold stock in her own campaign yesterday.
We probably won’t have final election results for the next few days, but it should be enough to further humiliate the Republican traitors who will be sacrificing the very last ounces of their integrity on toothless protests on behalf of Donald Trump’s delusional and doomed attempt to overturn the Electoral College.
We’ve got 15 days until Democrats take full control of the federal government. Now we can get down to making sure that Democrats deliver for working people and prove that government can be a force for good.
Oh, and eat it, Mitch McConnell.
Oh, also, this:
Wait, Check This Out!
Over the last two months, Progressives Everywhere raised over $450,000 for Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, and grassroots groups such as Fair Fight, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, the Asian American Advocacy Fund, and Save Our Senate. It was worth every penny, not only because Democrats won in the Senate runoffs, but because it will also help empower grassroots organizers for years to come.
Much of our 2021 will be focused on spotlighting and supporting progressive activists and organizers all over the country. But none of the money we raise goes toward producing this newsletter or all of the related projects we put out there. Not a dime! In fact, it costs me money to do this. So to make this sustainable, I need your help.
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