Georgia might presumably again a Democratic candidate for the primary time since electing Invoice Clinton in 1992 — and a Joe Biden and Kamala H
Georgia might presumably again a Democratic candidate for the primary time since electing Invoice Clinton in 1992 — and a Joe Biden and Kamala Harris victory within the state will probably be due partially to Clayton County, a part of the district that the late U.S. Rep. and civil rights icon John Lewis represented.
On Friday morning, as absentee ballots continued to be counted, Joe Biden took the lead in Georgia by fewer than 1,000 votes. This got here after Clayton County officers labored by the night time to rely ballots and tally vote totals, 11alive reported. However because of the slim margin, a winner has not but been declared in Georgia.
Based on the Atlanta Journal Structure, the south metro county of almost 300,000 folks is normally neglected however is “essentially the most Democratic county in Georgia, even surpassing the deep-blue bastion of DeKalb in its vote proportion.”
In January 2017, simply earlier than Donald Trump took workplace, he took intention at Lewis and the fifth Congressional District, saying it’s “in horrible form and falling aside” and “crime infested.”
Congressman John Lewis ought to spend extra time on fixing and serving to his district, which is in horrible form and falling aside (to not……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
Lewis grew to become a fierce critic of Donald Trump from the second he received the presidency in 2016, saying he didn’t see Trump as a “legit president” because of Russian interference within the election. Lewis mentioned it was the primary time he didn’t attend the presidential inauguration in 30 years. All through Trump’s presidency, Lewis referred to as him “a racist” in 2018 after Trump referred to as Haiti and different nations “shitholes.” “We’ve come thus far. We made a lot progress,” Lewis mentioned. “And I feel this man, this president, is taking us again to a different place.” Trump tweeted that he and the First Woman had been saddened by John Lewis’s dying however didn’t pay his respects on the funeral in Atlanta.
So it’s particularly symbolic that whereas all votes in Georgia had been submitted by Election Day, it was the counting of votes in Clayton within the early hours of November sixth that tipped the state away from Trump and to Biden.
Lewis, who died in July at age 80, has lengthy been celebrated for his legacy of “good bother” (legislation enforcement almost beat him to dying with golf equipment throughout a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama) and his dedication to voting rights. Lewis’ activism helped the federal government enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Although a portion of the act was invalidated in 2013 by a Supreme Courtroom choice, permitting voter disenfranchisement issues to stay, he nonetheless pushed for brand spanking new voting rights laws recognizing that the struggle was removed from over.
“My expensive buddies: Your vote is valuable, nearly sacred. It’s the strongest nonviolent software we’ve got to create a extra good union,” Lewis mentioned in a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2012.
The fitting to vote is valuable, nearly sacred. It’s the strongest nonviolent software or instrument in a democratic society. We should use it.
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) July 26, 2016
Georgia has taken middle stage within the election because the historically Republican Southern state has been altering demographically because of progress within the Atlanta metro space. As Vox’s Ella Nilsen reported, “simply 5 proportion factors — or about 211,000 votes — separated Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump within the 2016 election. In 2018, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams got here inside lower than 55,000 votes of profitable the governor’s mansion.” The shift is because of “various Democratic city and suburban voters, who’re turning into extra reliably Democratic with time,” bringing Democrats “nearer and nearer to getting 50 %.”
Turnout can also be because of the grassroots efforts of voting rights organizations like Truthful Battle led by Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo, ProGeorgia led by Tamieka Atkins, New Georgia Undertaking led by Nsé Ufot, and Truthful Rely led by Rebecaa DeHart that registered a whole bunch of hundreds of latest voters within the state. The state hit file registration ranges at 7.6 million registered voters. One report discovered that there was a surge in turnout amongst Black voters within the Georgia major election in June following protests for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
On Friday, Democratic leaders celebrated that it was Lewis’s district that tipped the state towards Biden in a single day. “John Lewis is smiling,” Rep Ted Lieu tweeted. Hillary Clinton additionally tweeted: “He could be proud in the present day.”
Democratic Senate nominee Jon Ossoff, who will problem Republican incumbent Senator David Perdue in a runoff election in January, commented on Lewis’ legacy in a speech on Friday. “When Congressman Lewis marched throughout that bridge 55 years in the past to demand the sacred proper to vote for all Individuals, it was in order that we the folks might determine who represents us,” he mentioned. “So we might have moments like this one, the place Georgians of their thousands and thousands have mentioned sufficient. Change has come to Georgia, change has come to America.”