Georgia's Very Own Megathread!

[QAnonKelly]

It'll be interesting to see how the potential Amazon HQ plays into this race. The Republicans have a pact about doing a religious liberty bill and any sniff of that will make Amazon go elsewhere. I could see this driving a lot of the educated white people in the 'burbs (where Hillary picked up a lot of ground) to Evans. Either if Amazon goes elsewhere because of the religious liberty law or if they say the only way they'll come to Georgia is if it gets taken off the table. My parents are Republicans and have said they'll vote for her if it comes to that. I'm voting for her either way in the primary (Abrams wouldn't stand a chance in the general) but I think the Amazon HQ is going to play into this race in a yuge way.

[QAnonKelly]

Stacey Abrams (who is ridiculously far left--- and I'm sorry but she's a black woman)

lol

You're laughing but he's right. Georgia isn't going to elect Stacey Abrams in 2018.  She might be able to pull Obama-level support among blacks, but the very best she can hope for is to also reach his level of support among whites. Which isn't near enough to get the 50+1 to avoid a runoff.

Oh, of course she isn't going to be elected Governor in 2018 - In fact I think the attention that she's getting, which appears to be based solely on her demographic profile unless I'm unaware of something, is ridiculous. Hopefully the DGA doesn't waste too much money on her.

I'm supporting Evans, FTR. Has their been any primary polls yet on the Democratic side?

Evans has more cash on hand which is what matters at this point.

[QAnonKelly]

I'm encouraged that most of Evans' endorsements are from local politicians while Abrams' only has the endorsements of the Georgia Democrats in Congress and outside interest groups. I was pleased to see a group of a dozen black legislators come out and endorse Evans. I was worried that the primary would be racialized which would hurt Evans, but it looks like those involved in local politics understand that Abrams is unelectable.

Doesn’t look too great that Jimmy Carter also walked back what seemed like an endorsement.

[QAnonKelly]

I'm encouraged that most of Evans' endorsements are from local politicians while Abrams' only has the endorsements of the Georgia Democrats in Congress and outside interest groups. I was pleased to see a group of a dozen black legislators come out and endorse Evans. I was worried that the primary would be racialized which would hurt Evans, but it looks like those involved in local politics understand that Abrams is unelectable.

Doesn’t look too great that Jimmy Carter also walked back what seemed like an endorsement.

Of Abrams?

Yeah. He introduced her somewhere as something to the effect of “hopefully the next governor of GA”. IIRC the next day,  his office put out a statement saying that he hadn’t made up his mind and will support whoever gets the nom.

[QAnonKelly]

I'm encouraged that most of Evans' endorsements are from local politicians while Abrams' only has the endorsements of the Georgia Democrats in Congress and outside interest groups. I was pleased to see a group of a dozen black legislators come out and endorse Evans. I was worried that the primary would be racialized which would hurt Evans, but it looks like those involved in local politics understand that Abrams is unelectable.

Doesn’t look too great that Jimmy Carter also walked back what seemed like an endorsement.

Of Abrams?

Yeah. He introduced her somewhere as something to the effect of “hopefully the next governor of GA”. IIRC the next day,  his office put out a statement saying that he hadn’t made up his mind and will support whoever gets the nom.

Yikes!

This race will certainly be interesting as it unfolds. I was done with Abrams after she refused to condemn the protesters who shouted down at Evans at the Netroots Conference holding up signs inferring she didn't support black women and compared her to Betsy Devos. When asked why they didn't like Evans they couldn't name one vote, policy decision, or otherwise. Disgusting.

I feel the same way; it'll be an interesting one to watch. I'm all in for Evans right now, and it's certainly encouraging that she's gotten the support of so many locals. She seems to have her priorities in order- I like that she's making education reform the important topic that it should be and keeping to economic issues.

That’s what made my mind up too. There’s no excuse for the way those people acted and whether Abrams likes it or not , they were her supporters. She owes Evans an apology for it. Abrams seems to be only focusing on black women. Statistically they are the large chunk of D voters in Georgia, you have to reach out to win on a bigger stage. Evans seems to be running on more broad stuff like free technical school and universal pre-k 4. I actually started donating to Evans this week.

[QAnonKelly]

Abrams’s feud with Kemp also doesn’t help matters

[QAnonKelly]

Apparently the first dem primary debate is tonight. First I’d heard of it but I was listening to GPB on the way to work and they played an ad about it (well more like a preview of this afternoon’s political rewind)

[QAnonKelly]

Of course Abrams didn't apologize for Netroots.

[QAnonKelly]

I was impressed with Evans' performance, though I am a bit biased.

There are very few policy differences between the candidates but I am just completely turned off by Abrams' style. She blatantly tried to misrepresent Evans' record on education, even as Evans made it clear that one bill she tried to pin on her was before her tenure in office and another was voted for initially but she opposed it after the Senate changed it before sending it back.

Evans shined when Abrams refused to condemn the Netroots protestors and Evans issued a full throated repudiation of anyone affiliated with her campaign or not that may attempt to silence Abrams in the future.


When asked about how they would run a primary that can avoid fracturing the party for the General, I appreciated Abrams stating that race should not be interjected into this race. Evans countered that nicely by stating her campaign would be run with integrity and focused on issues that keeps families up at night. She needs to avoid directly addressing race in this primary in regards to her opponent, because her words can be easily used against her and she needs black women next November.

The segment where they discussed how they would govern with Republican majorities in the State House and Senate was interesting. Evans stating that she would gladly bear the blame of passing legislation to improve healthcare if moderate Republicans needed someone to blame was a good one. That was a nice way to reach out to ticket splitting voters. My absolute favorite part was her dedication to fair redistricting in 2020. That was one of the most important issues discussed when I met with her campaign last week. This should be on the cornerstones of her campaign that can motivate both policy wonks and apathetic voters. Voter suppression and gerrymandering must be dismantled in the state.

Also when both were asked how they would win, Evans subtly noted that she was the best candidate to win over rural ancestral Dems who voted Trump or stayed home, and to reach out suburban women in Cobb and Gwinnett counties that voted Hillary or Ossoff.

Excited for this race!

There's something about Abrams that just rubs me the wrong way and that back and forth about healthcare was representative of it.

[QAnonKelly]

The Republican guys are doing a forum to start off their campaigns Saturday.

[QAnonKelly]

I’d say let’s wait out the Amazon deal and see where everyone stands on their religious liberty pact.

[QAnonKelly]

I'm all in on Evans at this point but damn this looks bad...

[QAnonKelly]

Yeah, I really don't think Bannon cares about a Governor's race in a state that's trending in the opposite direction of him.

[QAnonKelly]

Evans has continued to garner endorsements from local black politicians over the past week. Abrams has yet to receive an endorsement from an elected official in Georgia or anyone in the State Legislatire. This is pretty damning considering she was the Minority Leader in the State House.

The House also rejected her pick for successor, right?

[QAnonKelly]

Evans has continued to garner endorsements from local black politicians over the past week. Abrams has yet to receive an endorsement from an elected official in Georgia or anyone in the State Legislatire. This is pretty damning considering she was the Minority Leader in the State House.

The House also rejected her pick for successor, right?

Yes. Abrams may be a progressive hero to outsiders who just want her to win because of her demographics but under the gold dome she is seen as anything but. The resistance to her candidacy is strong. I expect Abrams' lack of intra-state support to be a major hitting point once the actual debates get rolling.

I'll be interested to see who the Carters, Kasim Reeds, Theresa Thomilsons,Sally Yates's , and such endorse as time goes on.

[QAnonKelly]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/georgia-attorney-general-quits-defense-server-wiping-case-50864399

This looks really bad

[QAnonKelly]

After Tuesday Night's successes (esp in Virginia), I have a lot of hope for Evans's prospects. I just don't see Abrams being able to do well in a GE. Especially with her botching of the Netroots fiasco (the attack ads write themselves).

[QAnonKelly]

Since Evans has endorsed Bottoms and Greg Bluestein said Bottoms will officially endorse Evans later (presumably after the election) , there's another black local politician that picked her over Abrams. Kasim Reed has also implied he's supporting Evans. Not looking too good for Abrams.

[QAnonKelly]

Can Evans inspire the kind of AA, Latino, and Asian turnout necessary to flip the state or at least keep it at a loss of less than 5%?

I don't think she will inspire Obama level turnout among minorities. I do think she will keep it close. Carter lost by 8 points in an Obama lame-duck midterm, so I definitely believe Evans can be competitive with an unpopular Republican in DC. She may be like Northam in that she is simply viewed as anti-Trump proxy and people will go vote for her for that. I think what she really needs is loads of competitive downballot races. Starting with some strong Democrat challenges in GA-06 and GA-07. There are a few State Senate and House seats that have Republican incumbents where Hillary Clinton won that could increase Democrat turnout in these areas.

Vote rich Gwinnett County is trending Democrat. Hillary broke 50 percent here. Evans can also be competitive in Cobb County, she represented Smyrna which is located here so she could reduce margins in this county. She's really going to need to appeal to suburban white women while simultaneously making sure black and Latino turnout is at least a tad better than 2014. Trump in the White House makes this easier.

One of the cornerstones of her campaign is to bring back the HOPE Scholarship. She needs to cascade across the state to every public university to make this case. From Savannah to Augusta to Carrollton to Albany to Macon and everywhere in between. These young voters will turn out for someone promising to make their full tuition free again.

Hopefully Cobb and Gwinnett voting Dem wasn’t just a fluke last year. Gwinnett is at the demographic sweet spot now that it should be out of reach for Reps but I’m not so sure about Cobb. Even without Cobb 3/4 of the biggest counties should vote Dem now which is a good sign but 4/4 would be preferred.

And to answer about what Abrams weak is that she’s made a couple of absolutely moronic unforced errors in a campaign that’s pretty much in its infancy. Her supporters heckled Evans off the stage this summer without even giving her a chance to speak and she didn’t apologize and has doubled down on not apologizing. They were comparing Evans to Betsy DeVos (for a vote supposedly in favor of charter schools  that’s been taken out of context by Abrams) and yelling “ Support Black women” but couldn’t actually say why they liked Abrams more.

[QAnonKelly]

Politics is all about perception. The whole Netroots fiasco could very easily be made out to be about the perception that she’s running on demographics alone. The attack ads write themselves.  Also Abrams being endorsed by more national figures/ organizations while Evans is being endorsed by more local people could also feed into this narrative. Abrams’s botching of Netroots was her signing her own death certificate. She could very well get out of the primary but she’s toast in a GE because of it.

[QAnonKelly]

When you get to be a certain age without being married or having kids , people are going to assume things about you. It’s not right but it is what it is (at least for now, people are growing to accept it more). You can’t change it yourself. Cory Booker has fought off these rumors for a long time and he’s not gay. I’d bet he gets married in the next year / year and a half if he’s running in 2020 bc his path would probably be to run up the socially conservative black vote. Just to put the rumors to rest for good.

[QAnonKelly]

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a13761355/stacey-abrams-georgia-governor-candidate-interview/

"If all goes as planned, the earliest Stacey Abrams would run for president is in 2028. Not 2020 — that’s too soon. Not 2024 — the Democrat who vanquishes President Trump in 2020 will be up for re-election. No, the first opportunity is 2028. That’s her year."


Yikes

[QAnonKelly]

I don't begrudge her wanting that but she comes with some serious baggage and is still six months out from the gov's primary. Sounds like she's putting the cart before the horse.

[QAnonKelly]

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a13761355/stacey-abrams-georgia-governor-candidate-interview/

"If all goes as planned, the earliest Stacey Abrams would run for president is in 2028. Not 2020 — that’s too soon. Not 2024 — the Democrat who vanquishes President Trump in 2020 will be up for re-election. No, the first opportunity is 2028. That’s her year."


Yikes

Well, at least she's honest, I guess.
This article perfectly sums up a lot of what's wrong with Stacey Abrams as a candidate. Her ambition and lack of commitment to Georgia voters are clear as day, and I think she'll be absolutely obliterated if she makes it through the primary.

Cagle seems to be a fairly average, non-controversial candidate when compared to the crazies running against him (unless you live in Decatur). Abrams is not a fairly average, non-controversial candidate by any means, and being set apart by supporting BDS, the Netroots fiasco, wanting to run for President as soon as humanly possible, running a campaign on demographics, and wanting to tear down Stone Mountain is not a net positive.

I can only hope that Evans wins the primary; she at least would have a chance against Cagle, however small it may be. I'll be strongly supporting her campaign.

I completely agree. If she wanted to find another state to uses as a stepping stone, she should probably find it because she’s just not the fit for GA. I don’t begrudge her her ambition but there’s a time and a place for everything

[QAnonKelly]

Abrams has always reminded me of someone and I’ve finally figured out who it is, Cory Booker. A showhorse who obviously is always looking to be the next big thing so much that they come off as disingenuous. Not doubting that each of them wants to do good in the world (like I’m not such a fan of Booker’s but he clearly very passionately cares about reforming the criminal justice system), ambition like that just doesn’t come off well very often. There’s a time and a place for for everything. Politics is about perception after all.