"WHERE ARE WE?"

 "WHERE ARE WE?"

        I was glad that the Democrats did better than expected in the midterms, but it still looks like the Trumpsters will take over the House.  I was disappointed but not surprised that Stacey Abrams lost her gubernatorial bid in Georgia.  Kemp had stood up to Trump, but he had also shored up his conservative base with actions on guns and controlling women's bodies.  Plus, the economy in Georgia was relatively in good shape.  Stacey's main hope was to get a huge turnout, but that did not materialize.  Indeed she got 114,000 less votes in 2022 than she did in 2018.  The Republicans demonized her as a "national" figure, casting her as a surrogate for President Biden.  They also used the white supremacist fear of a Black woman in charge of white people, especially white men. The Republicans succeeded in projecting that her profile seemed larger than Georgia, and I think that is reflected in the lower turnout for her.  She received 132,000 less votes than did Raphael Warnock, an indication to me that some of the voters supported Brian Kemp for governor but crossed over to vote for Warnock for senator.  Stacey is a very talented and hard-working person and politician, and it will be interesting to see what she does next.  I hope that she will keep her ground game in place to support Warnock in the December 6 run-off.

        I was disappointed and surprised that Reverend Warnock did not beat Herschel Walker outright for the Senate seat in Georgia.  Walker is clearly not qualified to be a senator, but his football legacy obviously carries a lot of weight in Georgia.  His campaign team brought Coach Vince Dooley from his last days before death to endorse Walker.  The runoff will once again boil down to turnout, and historically, the Republicans have dominated in recent runoffs, with one big exception.  That exception was in January, 2021, when both Warnock and Jon Ossoff won Democratic Senate seats, giving the Democrats control of the Senate.  Let's hope that history repeats itself.  One advantage in 2020 was that Donald Trump gave such mixed messages to his loyal base, so that many of them stayed home on the runoff day in January.

         One of the ironies of the runoffs is that white supremacist Democrats established them in the South to seek to prevent a Black candidate from winning in a primary or general election.  The grandchildren of those Democrats are now Republicans in the South, and now they long for a Black candidate to win, or at least a Black football hero candidate.  Walker kept his distance from Trump this fall, even though he had been handpicked by Trump to oppose Reverend Warnock.  It will be interesting to see what Trump does for the runoff on December 6.  It looks like Trump is tying himself in knots, scheduling a special announcement about his political future tomorrow.  

        One of the themes of this recent election period is that both white male leaders of their parties were kept at a distance by many candidates.  Trump's endorsement of candidates seemed to hurt them more than help them, and I know that this fact galls him, even though he has tried to shift the blame to others, as he always does.  He even blamed Melania for talking him into supporting Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania.  I'm assuming that Trump will announce for President tomorrow, if he indeed makes an announcement that day.  Given the dismal showing of his candidates this fall, it will be intriguing to see how many Republicans step up to challenge him for the Presidential nomination.  I counted him out in 2016, so I want to be careful here, but he seems damaged politically.  And, of course, there are the legal challenges hanging over him and around him.

        I was glad that President Biden came out better than many predicted that he would in the elections this fall, but he was kept at a distance by some Democratic candidates, including Senator Warnock.  Since control of the Senate will not be at stake, I'm guessing that President Biden may not make some appearances for Senator Warnock in the few weeks ahead.  But, I am hoping that President Biden will not seek a second term as President - he is simply too old to do it.  He saved the country by running and winning in 2020, and he has had significant legislative wins in his term. Yet I don't think that he can win a second term. Plus, it would be a hard grind to have two white males in their late 70's run against one another yet again for President.  It is time for younger and more diverse leadership, and these next 6-8 months will be interesting to watch (and scary).

        Whatever you think about Trump and President Biden running again, if you are a resident of Georgia, please vote on December 6.  And, if you live outside Georgia, make sure all your friends and acquaintances in Georgia turn out to vote!