Last Friday, David Perdue conceded to Jon Ossoff, officially ending the Georgia Senate run-offs after Kelly Loeffler conceded to Rev. Raphael Warnock as well. (Concessions: Briefly out of style but now back on trend!)
Watching the results in Georgia come in last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, we saw democracy at its best. Despite vicious smears and structural barriers put in place to stop just this outcome, Georgia voters—especially Georgia’s black voters—made their voices heard.
But we didn’t have much time to celebrate, because by Wednesday afternoon, we were watching as a violent mob descended on the U.S. Capitol, egged on by Republican leaders, attempting to subvert democracy and disrupt the transfer of power.
They failed in that goal, but reminded us of what we are up against: A Republican Party that has embraced and promoted white supremacy, rightwing disinformation, and extremism. We saw a president and his followers turn to violence to protect their power. Five people died. But for a few strokes of luck and acts of bravery, it would have been far worse.
So we have to do two things: We have to fight for accountability. We have to make sure we reckon with what unfolded at the Capitol and the ongoing threats our democracy faces. It’s ugly and we have to face it. But we also can’t let a bunch of rightwing extremists and the elected officials who indulge and encourage them rob us of the chance to recognize and celebrate the hard work that you, the rest of the Vote Save America community, and so many organizers and staff poured into Georgia in these last few months.
Georgia elected a Black man and a Jewish man to represent them in the U.S. Senate for the first time. We flipped two seats that were considered safe for incumbents just one year ago, giving Democrats control of the White House and both houses of Congress for the first time in 10 years. Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will be heading to the United States Senate not only to fight for health care and economic relief in the midst of this pandemic—but also to fight for reforms to protect the right to vote and strengthen our democracy.
Over 42,000 of you signed up to Adopt Georgia and get plugged into remote volunteer opportunities supporting the work of organizers on the ground in Georgia. You filled over 27,000 volunteer shifts with organizations around the state.You wrote 565,550 letters to voters with Working America, made 108,000 calls to unregistered voters with the New Georgia Project Action Fund, and raised $6.2 million for Fair Fight Action, the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns, and grassroots groups doing the essential work of new voter registration and education.
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Four years ago, we woke up in an America with Trump in the White House and Republicans in total control of the Congress. Together, you took that gavel from Paul Ryan’s hands. You got Mitch. And you fought like hell, against cynicism and misinformation and chaos, in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis, to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and remove the worst president in history. You did it. Be proud.
So we wanted to say thank you for being part of Vote Save America. And we want you to know that we’re just getting started. We’ll be sharing more about how you can stay in the fight with us, to win up and down the ballot, and to deliver real progressive change. The fights of the past four years were never just about stopping one evil person, but about giving ourselves the chance to build a better world.
We have more work ahead of us. It won’t be easy. But we’re in this together.
Thanks for being here with us,
Vote Save America
P.S. If you want to learn more about how this historic moment in Georgia was made possible by organizers, strategists, and voters after years of hard work, make sure to check out “Gaining Ground: The New Georgia,” a co-production of Tenderfoot TV and Crooked Media. All episodes are now available, including an interview with newly-elected Senator Jon Ossoff!
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