Now we know for sure: Georgia going Democratic was not just a fluke for President-elect Joe Biden in November. There are forces at work that are rapidly turning the state blue, redrawing the U.S. electoral map.
The victories Wednesday by the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who became the first Black Democrat to be elected to the Senate from the South, and Jon Ossoff, also in his first elective office, confirmed that Georgia’s metamorphosis from conservative bastion to battleground state was complete. The changing demographics are likely to reshape the political dynamics of this Deep South state for a generation.
Until this week, Republicans held every statewide elective office and majorities in both houses of Legislature. But the victories by Warnock and Ossoff in the runoff races, coming on the heels of a narrow win by Biden, showed that Democrats could forge a coalition to win Georgia even when the focus shifted away from removing President Donald Trump from office.