GA-06: Ossoff’s Loss to Handel was Predictable. Will Democrats Admit It before it’s too Late?
In what has been described as “the most expensive House race ever,” Georgia’s Sixth has now become the site of one of the most devastating Democratic losses since the 2016 election. Democrats put all their effort, rhetoric, and resources into making the Jon Ossoff vs. Karen Handel election a turning point for their party, and a sign of hope for the 2018 elections.
And they failed.
The Democrats failed in GA-06 just as they have failed in every single special election since Inauguration Day, and just as they did on Nov. 8, 2016. They failed in 2016 for the same exact reasons as when they lost the Senate in 2014 and the House in 2010.
And the reason is painfully obvious: Their electoral strategy all offense and no defense.
While the Democrats have chosen to focus on gaining points amongst undecided and inconsistent voters, they have completely ignored the tens of millions of voters nationwide that the GOP has actively deprived the vote. In other words, they have left suppressed voters undefended in order to offensively target small pockets of unpredictable voters.
And this strategy has failed the Democrats every single time.
Instead of uniting as a party to legally challenge the Interstate Crosscheck System, voter ID laws, felony disenfranchisement and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act — the Democrats put all of their strategic efforts into phone calls, door knocking and media campaigns. Predictably, it did not pay off.
If anything can (and should) be used to predict a Democratic victory or defeat, it should be whether or not the Democrats implement a defensive strategy to counter deprivation of rights in the location of any major campaign. Here’s why:
- 21 million voters have been deprived their Constitutional right to vote as the result of voter ID restrictions. Of these, an estimated 14 million are voters of color.
- Over 6 million people nationwide have been prevented from voting because of felony disenfranchisement. Of these, an estimated 5 million are people of color.
- Over 1 million voters, mostly black and Latinx, were purged from voter registration lists just prior to the 2016 elections as a result of the Interstate Crosscheck System. 6 million more have been identified for current and future purging. The man responsible for this system is now the Vice Chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
- While 1 in 6, or 34 million, voters is living with disabilities — 75% of polling places were inaccessible.
All in all, tens of millions of voters have been actively disenfranchised by the GOP. This is why they win elections. And why the Democrats can’t stop them.
With voter suppression, the Republican Party has been able to squeak by the Democrats in every major election since the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Without voter suppression, the Republicans would likely never see a federal position again.
Georgia’s sixth serves as a perfect example.
In efforts to defeat Republican Karen Handel, the Democrats spent tens of millions of dollars on media, door knockers and phone callers in efforts to offensively mobilize support for Jon Ossoff. And they were successful. While only 190,000 voters turned out for the GA-06 election in April, an estimated 240,000 turned out to vote in the June run-off.
But the Democrats still lost.
And this loss, as previously stated, could be predicted by acknowledging the complete absence of a defensive strategy to counter voter suppression. Georgia is a Crosscheck state. Out of 6 million voters 660,000 are listed as purgeable. It also boasts some of the nation’s strictest voter ID requirements. Voters with disabilities are forced to confront statewide violations of the ADA and Georgia actively suppresses the votes of citizens with felony convictions.
And there are no organized Democratic efforts to confront any of these issues in Georgia, or in Georgia’s Sixth.
As a result, they have gambled with an offense only strategy that has cost them every single important election since 2010. It is this same strategy that cost them the GA-06 election, and it is this very strategy that will leave the GOP in power for an unforeseeable future unless the Democrats accept this election result as a wake-up call and shift gears. Immediately.
Until voter suppression formally addressed and legally ended, there is no reason to expect a Democratic takeover of Congress in 2018 or a Democratic president in 2020.
