As if the panicked echoings of Trump's baseless 2020 presidential election-centered fraud claims from many Republicans haven't made it clear enough, let's say it again: Georgia really did it. They bagged two Democrats in their nationally anticipated Senate runoff elections, meaning the next four years for incoming POTUS Joe Biden's team will go much smoother in terms of policy-making.
With Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff's respective victories confirmed, how else will this rebuke of Trumpism in the Deep South affect American politics moving forward?
Below, we've broken down the potential impact of Warnock and Ossof's wins into four sections, starting with how a narrow margin in the Senate will benefit incoming President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
We all knew going into these runoff races, the losers of which are Trump-aligned Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, that control of the Senate was at stake. With those aforementioned GOP heels now on the outs, odds tip in the favor of Democrats, who will have with a 50-50 split put over the edge by the tie-breaking power of VP Harris.
A tendency toward instant complacency, however, should be held off. As Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders explained on Wednesday, "promises must be kept" so that families still struggling during the pandemic have a path forward.
In the more immediate sense, as Biden himself detailed this week while stumping for Warnock and Ossoff in Georgia, this pair of historic Democratic wins could pave the way for additional stimulus money being more swiftly delivered to those who need it most.
"By electing Jon and the Reverend you can make an immediate difference in your own lives and the lives of people all across this country because their election will put an end to the block in Washington [over] that $2000 stimulus check," Biden promised. "That money will go out the door immediately."
Even former POTUS and fervent Biden backer Barack Obama shared a statement on the Georgia election results on Wednesday. In it, Obama pointed to the outcome in the state as one worth emulating in other regions of the country.
"If we want to protect the gains we've made, achieve even more progress in the years to come, and reinforce the foundations of self-governance on which our country rests, there's no better path to follow than the one forged by the determined, organized, and confidently hopeful people of Georgia," Obama, who also made a point to praise the resilience and leadership of Stacey Abrams, said.
In short, the Senate runoff victories for Warnock and Ossoff further drive home the irrefutable failure of Trumpism in the 2020 presidential election. While Trump—as well as members of his immediate family and other Republicans—will likely stay glued to their narrative built on baseless fraud claims, Georgia going blue only solidifies the banner message of the 2020 election: Trump and his ideals were outvoted.
Where the GOP goes next, particularly amid multiple threats from the Trump family against any Republican lawmaker who fails to support Donald's election delusions, is anyone's guess. Some have speculated that the party will fracture, presumably resulting in an at least one unsettlingly large facet of Republicans whose sole aim will be to keep the MAGA brand alive.
One thing that's certain, however, is the rotting tortoise himself, Mitch McConnell, will lose his Senate majority leader title. Stepping into the spot now will be Chuck Schumer.
Thanks in large part to the work of Abrams and other Democratic leaders in the state of Georgia, the Deep South at large now stands to be treated as a possible spot for gains that might have previously been viewed as improbable for any non-Republican.
With Georgia having gone blue, future presidential elections, for example, will see states like Georgia newly in play as potential grabs for either party. In the past, Georgia—like its counterparts Alabama and Tennessee—has typically been considered an easy win for the GOP.
Arguably, the runoff wins for the Democratic party also point to the power that younger generations have when it comes to recalibrating the path their chosen state is taking. While older generations in Georgia and elsewhere in the South (particularly Christian white voters) will likely stick to some form of MAGAism moving forward, younger generations and those who recently voted for the first time could continue to make palpable headway in undermining antiquated ideologies.
