I've worked in my group (31st Street Swing Left) on Georgia for the past 2 years. What's striking about GA is how dense and coordinated the network of grassroots groups is. There are groups for Black, AAPI, Hispanic, Black male, counties (159 of them), Indivisible groups, NAACP groups, college groups, groups with just a few people, C3 and C4 "tables" that coordinate the groups, and on and on. There are so many intensely committed people! Also, the Democratic Party of GA really has its act together, running a voter protection hotline, phone banks, ballot curing, events, etc. Plus, there was tremendous out-of-state support, such as donating, writing letters and postcards, phone banking, ballot curing, and traveling to GA to volunteer. As Senator Reverend Warnock said, his magnificent victory was a prayer for a better future, and it was a prayer by millions of people across Georgia and across the USA.
As you have noted, Tuesday was a great day for the state of Georgia. I want to add it was even historic.
I worked again as a poll worker for my county (Cobb). Compared to the General Election we had 10 voting machines vs 16; and eight workers vs 16, respectively.
And yet!
Progressively over 12 hours we watch the count keep up with the General Election hourly vote counts.
But it made no sense.
Georgia run-off elections bring in 25-55% of the voters of the General. Never-the-less around 3 pm the pricinct supervisor (another oldster) and I looked at each other and whispered, “Is it possible?”
The possibility was that we might come historically close to the voting level of the General Election?
Around 4 pm the Supervisor and I began to show signs of giddiness.
Our one sanctioned poll watcher was a fellow who had made known his allegiance to MAGA. I noticed his body language change. From 4 pm to closing he never once left his chair and notably his legs and arms seemed permanent crossed as he leaned further and further back in his chair.....like he was standing on car brakes. His expression was entirely dour.
I have to admit it was childishly exhilarating to watch him.
Alas, by time the polls closed we did not approach the vote count of the General Election .... rather we EXCEEDED IT by 10% with a total 1206 votes cast.
Voting records had been broken in my pricinct.
I get home at 9:30 full of anticipation but learn the race is back and forth close. Was my pricinct an unexplained outlier?
Cobb is an adjacent northern neighboring county to the City of Atlanta. It has a long history of strong white Republican conservatism. Times they do change.
The rest of my story is already told.
Rev Warnock will remain our Senator and Democrats have a 51% Senate majority.
As a life-long Georgian I could not be more proud of my fellow Georgians who voted despite legislative intimidation and terrible weather.
I am today more hopeful than ever our democracy will survive the MAGA assault.
Today I read the Brennan Center's discussion of ISL and will now read Luttig's; thanks, once more, for your anxiety-reducing guidance, Robert!
To reinforce the legal news part of today's essay, here's how Joyce Vance put it: "The legal system is in high gear."
If there were a nutrition label for my daily information diet, three of the most important ingredients would be
Joyce Vance
Heather Cox Richardson
Robert Hubbell
What a trio! For proper nourishment I make sure to get my RDA (Recommended Democracy Allowance?!) of these thoughtful and thorough servants of truth and the rule of law.
GA: I phonebanked and wrote letters to GOTV for Warnock. Phew!! (And up until 6:35 PM Eastern I was calling voters whose absentee ballots had not been counted. Made tons of calls and left tons of messages, and talked to a number of people who didn't know there was a problem. Yes, every bit of volunteering helps.)
Dec 7, 2022·edited Dec 7, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Thank you for the wonderment of you! I read this on Wednesday morning in Spain - where the immaculate conception (which always makes me think of Zeus) is a holiday. Your fact based news is always such a relief. We are so lucky to have your calm, measured language. Here in Spain many wrote letters for Vote Forward. Those of us in Basque country gave our letters to one of us who was flying home to the states. She and a postal worker stamped them all and mailed them so she could watch them be sent out personally.
A grand relief that Mr.Walker was defeated, although by a margin much too close in my opinion. A win by Walker would have been humiliating to every African American in Georgia who was represented by that buffoon. I applaud the voters in Georgia and value every call and postcard I wrote to, hopefully, in some small way influence the election of Reverend Warnock.
I am proud of you and your wife and your efforts to inform your readers about the issues and continuing to encourage everyone to stay positive and remain enthusiastic about our democratic principles of government. Thank you. I’m happy to be one of your subscribers.
Dec 7, 2022·edited Dec 7, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Robert, Despite a great night, the mere fact that the once fringe ISL legal theory has advanced to the Supreme Court, in my view, is troublesome. Hence, I write seeking clarification. As I understand, the ISL legal theory aims to establish, that because the Constitution says that state legislatures redistrict and set the time, place, and manner of elections, that it means only the legislature has the power to determine how Congressional elections are conducted (thus also impacting how Presidential electors are chosen) without any checks and balances from state constitutions or state courts, or perhaps even from a governor’s veto.
Whereas you rightly note that legislatures are not above the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process, I worry about a High Court that would ignore 50 years of settled precedent in Roe, and would overturn a fundamental right relied upon by tens of millions every year. Clearly, a court willing to do that with a protection, over and over again reaffirmed, would do it to another fundamental protection.
As for legislatures being subject to regulations of Congress, while admittedly state legislatures are not exempt from federal regulations, as we saw last January with the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, enforcing federal regulations requires either reaching the Senate’s 60-vote threshold or modifying the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow for debate and an up or down majority vote.
I raise these points because I do fret about the stakes were the Court to grant state legislatures a superior status, wherein, absent any federal guardrails barring the nearly gutted 65 Voting Rights Act, it’s unclear who could check what they do.
I expected Senator Warnock to win because Walker appeared to be intellectually unqualified by a country mile. I expected many more Georgia voters to reject Walker’s candidacy. I am relieved that Warnock prevailed. At the same time I am shaken by the narrow margin of his victory which represents how irrational so many of Georgia’s voters are.
I live in NC and I happily wrote post cards for Warnock but I also wrote them for Stacey Abrams, who was the initial organizer of Georgia. I was a little sad last night when this outstanding Black woman was given no credit in his victory.
However, what really got me thinking was this comment in response to it:
"Your opinion piece takes the exact wrong slant. It shouldn't have been about Walker's extreme weaknesses and foibles but about how he almost won the election despite them, especially his hypocrisy. 51.5% to 48.5% is not good news. 90% to 10% is good news. 51.5% to 48.5% is an embarrassment.
What your piece should have been about, what every piece should have been about, was what this says about human beings. How did Hitler rise to power? How did Trump rise to power? Why does Trump hold such sway over the Republican party? Where are the people of integrity and principle? They are all the same question.
The answer has been staring us in the face for millennia. We fall short of our creator's hopes by far more than we ever admit. Anyone who doesn't think so should, for just one example, remember all the times they know they should have spoken up about something but didn't. When Uncle Joe railed on about sending blacks back to Africa at the Thanksgiving dinner table did you speak up or did you just let him run out of steam?
If a family member introduces racism to the dinner table, isn't "no heated arguments during holidays" the wrong goal? Or maybe you could have picked up your plate and walked to another room leaving Uncle Joe alone with his hate. Or were you afraid of being accused of spoiling Thanksgiving? Which is more important, a "peaceful Thanksgiving" or standing up against hate?
It isn't our actions when things are easy that counts, but when things are not easy. We drop a dollar or five in the Salvation Army pot and we donate food to the local soup kitchen, and those are good things but easy. But I was in LA for Thanksgiving and found the city littered with homeless. These people are out there because they are the hardest of the hard to help, but that they're out there in such numbers means we have fallen short as human beings, and that's just one example. We are far less noble creatures than we believe. That is the lesson of Hershel Walker."
I found this excellent food for thought. We did squeak by in GA (whew!) but there is still much to do. To say Hershel Walker was a flawed candidate is an understatement... but we came MUCH too close for comfort to having him in the Senate. I don't believe that many folks who voted for him in GA wanted him, they just were voting against "Biden" or the Democrats... and in the process were showing their contempt for Black people.
We have so very far to go as a country. I am grateful for where we are, but this election should not have been so close! We can't congratulate ourselves on this "victory" without considering the big picture.
As Dan Pfeiffer states today, the credit really goes to Stacy Abrams, Latosha Brown and mostly black women here in GA (I am a resident of GA) for the election of Warnock. Yes, people from all over the country pitched in and for that I am very grateful but it was Stacey’s years of grass root work all over GA that set up the win. I just want to raise up that belief in the people and her work to show all of us that the people have a voice. There were no lines on Election Day but many early voters did stand in line for an hour+ to vote. We must not stop or rest on the this win, every fair election in GA will be hard won but thanks to Stacey and all Georgian’s now understanding how it works, we will prevail and have good for the people government. Lastly, why is the media so fixated on MAGA? I don’t even pay attention to it any longer.
While we can celebrate Raphael Warnock’s success in the Georgia runoff, it is extremely disappointing to realize that 48.8% of the voters chose Walker, representing over 1.6 million people either hypocrites and/or amoral people who ignored Walker’s failings or sought to increase the number of Senators in a corrupt, cowardly Republican Party. Disappointing, indeed.
An additional note about Jessica Cravens phone banking and other amazing work, she is doing all of that barely having recovered from Covid! Brava Jessica, bravo Robert!
The Democratic Party of Georgia is running a ballot cure phone bank through Dec. 9. The link is here:
https://www.mobilize.us/gavotes/event/537437/
I've worked in my group (31st Street Swing Left) on Georgia for the past 2 years. What's striking about GA is how dense and coordinated the network of grassroots groups is. There are groups for Black, AAPI, Hispanic, Black male, counties (159 of them), Indivisible groups, NAACP groups, college groups, groups with just a few people, C3 and C4 "tables" that coordinate the groups, and on and on. There are so many intensely committed people! Also, the Democratic Party of GA really has its act together, running a voter protection hotline, phone banks, ballot curing, events, etc. Plus, there was tremendous out-of-state support, such as donating, writing letters and postcards, phone banking, ballot curing, and traveling to GA to volunteer. As Senator Reverend Warnock said, his magnificent victory was a prayer for a better future, and it was a prayer by millions of people across Georgia and across the USA.
Robert -
As you have noted, Tuesday was a great day for the state of Georgia. I want to add it was even historic.
I worked again as a poll worker for my county (Cobb). Compared to the General Election we had 10 voting machines vs 16; and eight workers vs 16, respectively.
And yet!
Progressively over 12 hours we watch the count keep up with the General Election hourly vote counts.
But it made no sense.
Georgia run-off elections bring in 25-55% of the voters of the General. Never-the-less around 3 pm the pricinct supervisor (another oldster) and I looked at each other and whispered, “Is it possible?”
The possibility was that we might come historically close to the voting level of the General Election?
Around 4 pm the Supervisor and I began to show signs of giddiness.
Our one sanctioned poll watcher was a fellow who had made known his allegiance to MAGA. I noticed his body language change. From 4 pm to closing he never once left his chair and notably his legs and arms seemed permanent crossed as he leaned further and further back in his chair.....like he was standing on car brakes. His expression was entirely dour.
I have to admit it was childishly exhilarating to watch him.
Alas, by time the polls closed we did not approach the vote count of the General Election .... rather we EXCEEDED IT by 10% with a total 1206 votes cast.
Voting records had been broken in my pricinct.
I get home at 9:30 full of anticipation but learn the race is back and forth close. Was my pricinct an unexplained outlier?
Cobb is an adjacent northern neighboring county to the City of Atlanta. It has a long history of strong white Republican conservatism. Times they do change.
The rest of my story is already told.
Rev Warnock will remain our Senator and Democrats have a 51% Senate majority.
As a life-long Georgian I could not be more proud of my fellow Georgians who voted despite legislative intimidation and terrible weather.
I am today more hopeful than ever our democracy will survive the MAGA assault.
Henry Munford
Today I read the Brennan Center's discussion of ISL and will now read Luttig's; thanks, once more, for your anxiety-reducing guidance, Robert!
To reinforce the legal news part of today's essay, here's how Joyce Vance put it: "The legal system is in high gear."
If there were a nutrition label for my daily information diet, three of the most important ingredients would be
Joyce Vance
Heather Cox Richardson
Robert Hubbell
What a trio! For proper nourishment I make sure to get my RDA (Recommended Democracy Allowance?!) of these thoughtful and thorough servants of truth and the rule of law.
GA: I phonebanked and wrote letters to GOTV for Warnock. Phew!! (And up until 6:35 PM Eastern I was calling voters whose absentee ballots had not been counted. Made tons of calls and left tons of messages, and talked to a number of people who didn't know there was a problem. Yes, every bit of volunteering helps.)
Thank you for the wonderment of you! I read this on Wednesday morning in Spain - where the immaculate conception (which always makes me think of Zeus) is a holiday. Your fact based news is always such a relief. We are so lucky to have your calm, measured language. Here in Spain many wrote letters for Vote Forward. Those of us in Basque country gave our letters to one of us who was flying home to the states. She and a postal worker stamped them all and mailed them so she could watch them be sent out personally.
A grand relief that Mr.Walker was defeated, although by a margin much too close in my opinion. A win by Walker would have been humiliating to every African American in Georgia who was represented by that buffoon. I applaud the voters in Georgia and value every call and postcard I wrote to, hopefully, in some small way influence the election of Reverend Warnock.
Mr. Hubbell,
I am proud of you and your wife and your efforts to inform your readers about the issues and continuing to encourage everyone to stay positive and remain enthusiastic about our democratic principles of government. Thank you. I’m happy to be one of your subscribers.
As a resident of Georgia, I am greatly relieved this morning that our only national political embarrassment is Marjorie Taylor Greene!
Robert, Despite a great night, the mere fact that the once fringe ISL legal theory has advanced to the Supreme Court, in my view, is troublesome. Hence, I write seeking clarification. As I understand, the ISL legal theory aims to establish, that because the Constitution says that state legislatures redistrict and set the time, place, and manner of elections, that it means only the legislature has the power to determine how Congressional elections are conducted (thus also impacting how Presidential electors are chosen) without any checks and balances from state constitutions or state courts, or perhaps even from a governor’s veto.
Whereas you rightly note that legislatures are not above the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process, I worry about a High Court that would ignore 50 years of settled precedent in Roe, and would overturn a fundamental right relied upon by tens of millions every year. Clearly, a court willing to do that with a protection, over and over again reaffirmed, would do it to another fundamental protection.
As for legislatures being subject to regulations of Congress, while admittedly state legislatures are not exempt from federal regulations, as we saw last January with the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, enforcing federal regulations requires either reaching the Senate’s 60-vote threshold or modifying the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow for debate and an up or down majority vote.
I raise these points because I do fret about the stakes were the Court to grant state legislatures a superior status, wherein, absent any federal guardrails barring the nearly gutted 65 Voting Rights Act, it’s unclear who could check what they do.
I expected Senator Warnock to win because Walker appeared to be intellectually unqualified by a country mile. I expected many more Georgia voters to reject Walker’s candidacy. I am relieved that Warnock prevailed. At the same time I am shaken by the narrow margin of his victory which represents how irrational so many of Georgia’s voters are.
I live in NC and I happily wrote post cards for Warnock but I also wrote them for Stacey Abrams, who was the initial organizer of Georgia. I was a little sad last night when this outstanding Black woman was given no credit in his victory.
Thank you, as always, for perspectives on the onslaught of daily news.
Having followed GA (and the run off election) closely, I read this opinion in the Washington Post this morning... an excellent reflection (IMO)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/
However, what really got me thinking was this comment in response to it:
"Your opinion piece takes the exact wrong slant. It shouldn't have been about Walker's extreme weaknesses and foibles but about how he almost won the election despite them, especially his hypocrisy. 51.5% to 48.5% is not good news. 90% to 10% is good news. 51.5% to 48.5% is an embarrassment.
What your piece should have been about, what every piece should have been about, was what this says about human beings. How did Hitler rise to power? How did Trump rise to power? Why does Trump hold such sway over the Republican party? Where are the people of integrity and principle? They are all the same question.
The answer has been staring us in the face for millennia. We fall short of our creator's hopes by far more than we ever admit. Anyone who doesn't think so should, for just one example, remember all the times they know they should have spoken up about something but didn't. When Uncle Joe railed on about sending blacks back to Africa at the Thanksgiving dinner table did you speak up or did you just let him run out of steam?
If a family member introduces racism to the dinner table, isn't "no heated arguments during holidays" the wrong goal? Or maybe you could have picked up your plate and walked to another room leaving Uncle Joe alone with his hate. Or were you afraid of being accused of spoiling Thanksgiving? Which is more important, a "peaceful Thanksgiving" or standing up against hate?
It isn't our actions when things are easy that counts, but when things are not easy. We drop a dollar or five in the Salvation Army pot and we donate food to the local soup kitchen, and those are good things but easy. But I was in LA for Thanksgiving and found the city littered with homeless. These people are out there because they are the hardest of the hard to help, but that they're out there in such numbers means we have fallen short as human beings, and that's just one example. We are far less noble creatures than we believe. That is the lesson of Hershel Walker."
I found this excellent food for thought. We did squeak by in GA (whew!) but there is still much to do. To say Hershel Walker was a flawed candidate is an understatement... but we came MUCH too close for comfort to having him in the Senate. I don't believe that many folks who voted for him in GA wanted him, they just were voting against "Biden" or the Democrats... and in the process were showing their contempt for Black people.
We have so very far to go as a country. I am grateful for where we are, but this election should not have been so close! We can't congratulate ourselves on this "victory" without considering the big picture.
As Dan Pfeiffer states today, the credit really goes to Stacy Abrams, Latosha Brown and mostly black women here in GA (I am a resident of GA) for the election of Warnock. Yes, people from all over the country pitched in and for that I am very grateful but it was Stacey’s years of grass root work all over GA that set up the win. I just want to raise up that belief in the people and her work to show all of us that the people have a voice. There were no lines on Election Day but many early voters did stand in line for an hour+ to vote. We must not stop or rest on the this win, every fair election in GA will be hard won but thanks to Stacey and all Georgian’s now understanding how it works, we will prevail and have good for the people government. Lastly, why is the media so fixated on MAGA? I don’t even pay attention to it any longer.
"....another divot in his quickly eroding veneer of invincibility." Priceless comment! And a long time coming for Trump.
While we can celebrate Raphael Warnock’s success in the Georgia runoff, it is extremely disappointing to realize that 48.8% of the voters chose Walker, representing over 1.6 million people either hypocrites and/or amoral people who ignored Walker’s failings or sought to increase the number of Senators in a corrupt, cowardly Republican Party. Disappointing, indeed.
Dr. Z.
An additional note about Jessica Cravens phone banking and other amazing work, she is doing all of that barely having recovered from Covid! Brava Jessica, bravo Robert!
Robert, how much of an effect does this win in Georgia impact Joe Manchin’s control of the Senate?