Why Georgia is on the minds of Alabama Republicans and Democrats

Joan Reynolds and her “Mighty Alabama Strike Force” have their walking shoes on and are canvassing neighborhoods identified as Republican leaning in Canton, Georgia.

About 140 miles south is Josh Coleman who is joined with a host of Alabama Democratic organizations canvassing neighborhoods ahead of a Saturday afternoon rally in Columbus, Georgia.

Reynolds is the chairperson of the Shelby County GOP. Coleman is chair of the Alabama Young Democrats. Their politics are vastly different, but for this weekend they share something in common with a Ray Charles song: Georgia is on their minds.

“We’re the only game in town,” said Charles Bullock III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. “They are all welcomed. They come here to volunteer and are putting in the work by knocking on doors.”

Indeed, the nation’s political attention has turned for the second time in two years to a Georgia runoff election. Though the stakes are not as high during Tuesday’s runoff as compared to 2020, Democrats and Republicans are pushing to get their voters to the polls.

Alabama volunteers will play a role. The Democratic Party is renting out buses paid for by the Right Side of History PAC that is administered by former Democratic Senator Doug Jones of Alabama.

Coleman anticipates 200 volunteers going to Columbus for a “Day of Action” in support of Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock.

Reynolds said she has taken a total of 90 volunteers to Georgia during multiple trips to the state during multi-day door-knocking swings through Republican-dominated communities in support of Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

The Alabama GOP’s field team is also on the ground and has been for the past two weeks, according to John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. In addition, the state GOP’s political director Philip Foster, is organizing and training teams of volunteers from around the country, Wahl said.

Though the Senate majority is not on the line as it was during the 2020 Georgia runoffs, the stakes are still high. A win for Warnock gives the Democratic Party a 51-49 majority, while a Walker victory maintains the 50-50 split, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote.

The two sides in Alabama are offering plenty of hype.

“The Alabama Republican Party is committed to doing our part to help restore America and defend our conservative values,” Wahl said. “The U.S. Senate seat is far bigger than the state of Georgia. It’s about the future of our nation and fighting for our rights and freedoms.”

Said LaTanya Millhouse, president of the Alabama Democratic Women, “This moment is bigger than just Alabama or Georgia. This is a time when Democrats across the nation are pulling together to secure control of the Senate. Our work will change the nation.”

Reynolds said the 50-50 split is important for Republicans, who would continue to rely on moderate senators like Joe Manchin of West Virginia or Krysten Sinema of Arizona to side with the GOP on certain votes.

The 50-50 split also prevents Democrats from relying on key insurance in case of a party switch or an unexpected vacancy that could be filled by a GOP governor. Republicans enjoy a 28-22 advantage among governorships in the U.S.

“You can’t give up on something as important as the Senate especially at this point when we have control of the House,” said Reynolds, who started the Strike Force 14 years ago with the focus on sending dozens of Republican volunteers to so-called “swing states” in an effort to convince GOP-leaning voters to get out and vote during an election.

For the Democrats like Coleman, the Georgia race’s outcome could underscore the theme of “candidate quality matters” that animated the midterm elections and was a reason given by political pundits as to why Republicans underperformed.

Coleman said that Warnock, senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, has “proven to be a man of faith and of principles who will do what he believes is right for the people of Georgia and for the people of America.”

Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Georgia and a standout running back for the Dallas Cowboys, has been plagued by multiple controversies that includes pressuring women to get an abortion while campaigning against abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.

His ex-wife, during an interview on ABC News, alleged that Walker once threatened to kill her. His son has also called him a hypocrite and a liar.

Walker is also facing questions about his residency after reports surfaced that he claimed a homestead exemption on a house in Texas.

Jones, the Senator from Alabama from January 2018-January 2021, said the “overriding issue” of the midterm election is that the GOP candidates who denied the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and were endorsed by former President Donald Trump are overwhelmingly suffering ballot box consequences.

During the midterms, voters rejected many of Trump’s endorsed candidates, including far-right politicians in Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, Michigan.

Walker has been critical of Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for not contesting the results of the state’s 2020 presidential contest.

“The fact of the matter is you have an extreme wing of the Republican Party that is really the dominate wing of the Republican Party right now,” Jones said. “Quite frankly, that’s not sustainable for Republicans. As a Democrat, I don’t like to see that. I don’t like to see extremes in either party dominating a party. It’s a lack of competition for ideas and (involves) people who are playing to extreme bases not representing their state.”

Reynolds said she believes some of the campaign criticism directed at Walker is “taken out of context.” She said that while canvassing Georgia, she spoke with a woman whose husband – a former professional football player – relayed a story about Walker speaking during a mental health conference and being “very open with the problems he has had and being able to overcome them.”

“I think Herschel has been upfront on a lot of that,” Reynolds said. “People will use your past against you, naturally, in some areas and (even if) they have been able to overcome (past problems).”

The Georgia Senate election is bringing back memories of Jones’s improbable victory during the 2017 special Senate election over Republican Roy Moore, who was also compromised with scandal involving allegations that he made inappropriate sexual advances on teenage girls when he was in his 30s.

Indeed, there are similarities as celebrities and big-name politicians are in Georgia ahead of the Tuesday contest. Jones said he will not be there but will instead be at a wedding Saturday in Birmingham.

The Alabama Democratic Party, in a news release sent Wednesday, said that a midday lunch rally in Columbus is not the first time that Democrats in the two states worked together. Georgia Democrats were in Alabama in 2017, to support the Jones candidacy and “now Alabama Democrats are working together to return the favor.”

“They not only provided extra hands and feet, they provided extra energy as we saw that our election mattered to the whole country, and this is a small step to repay the favor,” Coleman said.

Bullock said that despite Walker’s problems, and Warnock’s overwhelming fundraising advantage, history is on the side of the GOP in Georgia.

Of the past five Senate general election runoff elections in Georgia, only once has an incumbent won – Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss in 2008.

Warnock led Walker by around 37,000 votes of 4 million cast during the November 8 election but came up short of the 50% needed to avoid the runoff. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver’s 81,365 votes, or 2%, enabled the contest to go to the runoff.

The Georgia elections showed that split ticketing occurred in a state considered one of the few “purple” states in the U.S. where Democrats and Republicans battle for supremacy. Kemp, who handily defeated Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, received more than 164,000 votes than Walker.

Limited polling has revealed very little. A…