Harnessing the Power of Georgia’s Grassroots Campaign Tactics

The results of two highly anticipated Georgia runoff races flipped control of the Senate on Wednesday. Jon Ossoff beat out Senator David Perdue, while Rev. Raphael Warnock defeated Senator Kelly Loeffler, securing the Senate majority for the Democrats. Rev. Warnock’s win was historic in its own right, as he became Georgia’s first Black senator.

Many are crediting the comprehensive, state-wide get-out-the-vote effort for the two candidates’ success. 

Listen: What organizing in rural Georgia can teach us about electoral politics. 

Guest:

CeCe Grant is an organizer on the ground in Southwest Georgia, the largely rural area around Albany. She says having been born and raised in Detroit, she was surprised to find out that rural voters in Georgia are largely African American. “These are people who are usually overlooked when they do these big statewide campaigns… we don’t often talk about Black rural voters,” says Grant.

She says the grassroots campaigning in Georgia engaged and mobilized an electorate often that often gets ignored. “Every single person who I knocked on their door either already had voted or planned to vote… This was a highly educated electorate. It turns the narrative on its head,” says Grant. 

She hopes the strategy and tactics used in Georgia can act as a guidebook for other races in the U.S. “I think that Stacey Abrams just needs to take this playbook to every state across the country,” says Grant.

Web story written by Clare Brennan.