Who would have thought that the deep-red state in America, Georgia, would help deliver the presidency to Joe Biden? Georgia has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton won it in 1992. That’s 28 years ago, and Bill Clinton led George H.W. Bush by a measly .59 percent of votes. Bush lost because a third-party candidate, Ross Perot, got 13.34 percent of the votes, which changed the equation. Prior to Clinton’s win, the last time Georgia voted Democratic was in 1980 when it voted for Jimmy Carter, a former Georgia governor and favorite native son, for president.
The state has voted Republican 8 times in the last 9 presidential elections. From 1992, Georgia has gradually become a Republican bastion and it is more Republican than most red states in the US. Flipping Georgia to the Democratic column has become an obsession of every Democratic candidate seeking the presidency. Recognizing that it is a top hurdle for Biden, no less than Biden’s top surrogate, former President Barack Obama, led the charge in Georgia and held campaign rallies in the state on the eve of the election. No one can doubt Obama’s influence on the black voters that have become a demographic force in Georgia politics. It is generally believed that if Trump loses Georgia, his path to the White House gets narrower since the other battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin and even Pennsylvania were slightly in Biden’s favor. As borne out by later events, this was the case when these 3 states were called in Biden’s favor ahead of Georgia and in wider margins of victory. Winning Georgia for Biden highlighted the critical role of Georgia in his effort to win the US presidency. With Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams, both respected colored politicians and two of the hardest-hitting campaigners for the Democratic Party also endorsing the Democratic bet, Biden received a formidable boost in his campaign.
Watching the vote counts as the partial results from the various counties of Georgia trickled in was a nail-biting experience. During the first couple of days as the day-in votes on election day heavily favoring Trump were initially counted, Trump garnered a commanding lead over the challenger. This was also the case in other battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania where the initial results were overwhelmingly in Trump’s favor. During the election night party held at the White House, President Trump had declared victory citing the huge margin he was enjoying based on the initial and partial returns to the great delight of his 250 guests that crowded the place. The following days saw that lead evaporate and even overtaken by the avalanche of Biden votes coming from the mailed-in and absentee ballots, which were counted later. Trump assumed that his early lead was insurmountable, but he knew even before the election that over 100 million voters have availed themselves of early voting by mail or in person and that such votes would be counted later after the day-in votes were dealt with. Thus, Trump knew that the early counts would be skewed in his favor. It was totally unfounded for him and preposterous to accuse the Democrats of election fraud and stealing the election. The political structures in Georgia and in other contested states are heavily Republicans with incumbent Republican governors and secretaries of state. The US does not have a Commission on Elections similar to the Philippines’, which administers the conduct of the elections. The secretary of state supervises their elections. If the recent election is rigged and fraudulent, how come the state officials of Georgia and other battleground states have not questioned or challenged the conduct of the elections or its results? How come the winning candidates in the Republican slate in all these states have not denounced the results?
Georgia, like other growing states, has a diverse and expanding population, which drastically changed its demographics. This evolving population offers a changing electorate that presents ample opportunities for a progressive politician to take advantage of. Its largest city, Atlanta, has become a democratic stronghold influencing the political orientation of its sprawling suburbs.
The change of the political landscape in Georgia was due to the determined efforts of Stacey Abrams, a black female who finished her law in Yale and the 2018 Democratic senatorial bet in 2018. She narrowly lost to Brian Kemp of the Republican Party in an election marred by alleged voters’ suppression. After that heartbreaking loss, Abrams worked harder to expand voters’ turnout particularly from the minorities. Biden’s victory in Georgia is a testament that her hard work has paid off. As Abrams has commented after the election, “we have seen dramatic turnout among communities that typically are not at the top of attention for candidates. We have seen them be engaged, be encouraged and we have seen them turn out.”
With the big efforts shown by the Georgians to make Biden’s dream of becoming a president come true, Biden as he takes his oath of office on January 20, 2021 as the 46th president of the US will definitely have Georgia on his mind, with this sweet refrain: “Other arms will reach out to me, other eyes smile tenderly, still…the road leads back to you, yeah, Georgia!”