Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Vote Ossoff/Warnock for Democracy (not just Democrats)

It should come as no surprise that I want both Ossof and Warnock to win the Georgia special election next month. But putting aside my partisan interests, it would be good for American democracy if both won.

Let's face it, both Democratic candidates face an uphill battle. While Biden narrowly won Georgia, historically it is a solidly red state and the only reason the two Democratic Senate candidates reached a runoff is because the conservative vote was split between multiple conservative Senate candidates.

If Democrats pull off two upsets and both win, then the message that comes out of the race is that questioning the integrity of elections is bad electoral politics. If politicians come to understand that making statements that undermine their supporters' confidence in the fairness of their ballot depresses their side's turnout, they might stop making those statements.