Biden won Trump by just 11,000 votes in the midterm elections two years ago, a tight result
Few places better reflect America’s extreme polarization than Georgia, an electorally divided state in half that will be key in the mid-term elections this Tuesdayin which President Joe Biden is playing for control of Congress.
Biden won Donald Trump in this southern state in 2020 by only 11,000 votesan adjusted result that was used by the Republican to encourage the hoax of an electoral fraud in which many still believe.
Two years later, the vote of the Georgians is again crucial, since in his hands is a seat that can tip the Senate towards a Democratic or Republican majority.
The polls show a very close battle between the current senator and Rev. Baptist, the Democrat Raphael Warnock, and a former football star, the anti-abortion Republican Herschel Walker.
“We have plans to make sure that the polling stations are safe, with police officers who will prevent violence or threats,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, a Democrat and African-American, said Monday in a meeting with international journalists, including EFE. .
Dickens explained that there have been no recorded attacks against early voting ballot boxes, but there have been threats against election officials.
“We want the Republicans to accept the results of the elections and what happened with Trump does not happen”added the mayor of the so-called Capital of the South.
A visage state
Georgia, the birthplace of Martin Luther King and birthplace of the civil rights movement, is a state with a vibrant economy that has experienced a population explosion in recent decades.
This population increase is basically due to the increase in minorities, the African-American population, for example, represents 30%above the country average.
That is why the stigma of being a traditionally Republican southern state has been stripped away to become a hinge state where both parties have possibilities, said Bernard Fraga, a political scientist at Emory University.
Things are so close that there is a chance that Warnock and Walker will dispute a second round in January with neither reaching the necessary 50% of the votes.
If that happens, The uncertainty of which Congress Biden will have for the second part of his term will lengthenwhich ends in 2024.
Pockets, a priority
The tenant of the White House is not going through a good moment of popularity, partly hit by the pressing inflation in the country, which in September it was 8.2%.
In Georgia, the price increase is higher than the national average, something that Republicans use to their advantage.
Georgia Governor, Republican Brian Kemp, who seeks his re-election this Tuesdaypromised this Monday at a press conference a tax cut to deal with the rise in prices.
“We have the highest inflation in 40 years and Joe Biden has raised taxes on our people. We are trying to use the money to help them fight these bad policies,” he said.
Kemp will face the polls again against the Democratic and African-American candidate Stacey Abramswho four years ago attributed his defeat to policies that make it difficult for minorities to vote.
When questioned about doubts about the electoral process as a result of Trump’s accusations of fraud, Kemp reverted: “That is a question for Stacey Abrams, she has dedicated herself to destroying confidence in elections for ten years.”
Democracy and abortion, in the crosshairs
Georgia’s Republican-controlled Congress passed legislation this year that has increased the paperwork needed to vote by mail, limited ballot drop boxes and prohibits the delivery of water or food at polling places.
For its critics, it is a way of limiting access to the vote for the most disadvantaged minorities.
“They are attacking our right to vote!”Abrams exclaimed on Monday at his campaign closing ceremony in an Atlanta brewery, where he promised to shield the rights to vote and abortion, restricted in the country by a Supreme Court ruling.
Across the country, Democrats have used the defense of democracy and reproductive rights to mobilize their voters.
Arudel, a pastor who works in a church in an African-American neighborhood in Atlanta, has no doubt that despite the difficulties, people will go out and vote: “If it wasn’t like that, Obama would never have won”.