ATLANTA — Next month’s Senate runoffs in Georgia have gained national attention because of their implications on the balance of power in Washington, and, as a result, grassroots groups outside of Georgia are mobilizing to ensure voters get to the polls.
Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik spoke to Honi Goldman, a Democratic Party supporter in Louisville, Kentucky who has organized more than a hundred volunteers to send postcards to Georgia voters, reminding them to vote by Jan. 5.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Election 2020]
“This is a really important thing for people to do,” she said. “They want people in Georgia and Georgia voters to really understand how important this election is not only to Georgia, and not only to the residents of Georgia, but to this entire country.”
Goldman said their goal is to help unseat Sen. Mitch McConnell from his role as Senate majority leader by helping Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock get elected. So far, her group has penned more than 7,000 postcards.
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“We really want Georgia to get the message,” she said.
Pam Platt is helping to volunteer with Goldman.
“I’m so inspired by the people of Georgia who have turned out in big, big numbers to vote, and despite a lot of difficulties to do so,” she said. “And I wanted to be part of an effort to show that people around the country are supporting them in doing this.”
Life-long Republican Ben Burnett, who sits on the Alpharetta City Council, told Petchenik if Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue hope to hold onto their seats, they’ll need to mobilize their own bases.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the Democrats have the wind in their sails,” he told Petchenik. “So I think that the concern is very real.”
Burnett said both candidates need to focus on the issues that matter to GOP voters, especially those in metro Atlanta.
“The problem was that the issues didn’t matter and that the Republican party that you have to win in metro Atlanta is less concerned with shotguns and jean jackets,” he said.
Burnett said the candidates also need to distance themselves from unfounded accusations the general election was rigged.
“They have to find the voters. And the thing that concerns me …my dad is a retired 20-year Marine Corps veteran, who the Republicans have convinced that his vote doesn’t matter,” he said. “So if those people who are very hard voting Republican stay home, they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”
Petchenik got a statement from the National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman, Nathan Brand, about the grassroots efforts outside of Georgia:
Republicans will hold the line and defend the Senate majority because Georgians are united and mobilizing to elect Senators Perdue and Loeffler. With Senators Perdue and Loeffler’s leadership, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the entire Republican ecosystem are working in lock-step to reject the far-left’s socialist agenda. Republicans are reaching voters in every corner of the state, as the NRSC leads a presidential-sized voter turnout operation.”
