• Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK WOMEN COME FIRST

Every day we're serving Black women deeply. Come get a plate of goodness! Sign up for daily content and exclusive offers you'll love!

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and that you have read our Privacy Policy
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

We Can Continue To Build Black Political Power In Georgia’s Runoff Elections

When Black people vote, we win. Here’s how to vote for progressive change.
We Can Continue To Build Black Political Power In Georgia’s Runoff Elections
By Arisha Hatch · Updated December 6, 2020

For the first time in nearly 30 years voters in Georgia elected a Democratic presidential candidate and flipped the state blue. This is a testament to the work of Black women like Stacey Abrams and Nsé Ufot of the New Georgia Project who talked to voters about the issues and registered Black voters to combat voter suppression in the state. We reached this historic moment because of the Black women and organizers in Georgia who mobilized Black communities to build Black political power, and led over a million Black people to the ballot boxes in Georgia.

Honoring Black joy and recognizing the labor and determination that brought us this far is important. Now, we’re also gearing up for the next fight ahead because state and local races are crucial to holding national leaders accountable and funding public services that Black communities need to stay safe, housed and healthy. There are two Senate races on January 5th, 2021 that could pave the way for COVID-19 economic relief, expanded health care access, criminal justice reform — and so many more benefits for our communities that come with secure Democratic leadership in the Senate. 

Black people need and deserve a federal government that is capable of delivering more positive changes for Black people over the next four years than what has been delivered in the past. If we win both seats in Georgia, we have the power to make Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and one of the most powerful Black women in history. To do so, we need to create history twice, and you know we need Black women to lead the charge.

Current Senator Kelly Loeffler has been vocal about not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and spoke out against WNBA players who wanted to publicly speak out against police brutality and violence. Senator Loeffler, like current Senator David Perdue, downplayed COVID-19 from the start — instead of protecting their constituents, they profited from the pandemic as Black communities were being killed by the virus and forced to become essential workers to provide for their families. 

We Can Continue To Build Black Political Power In Georgia’s Runoff Elections
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 26: Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff attend Hosea Helps Thanksgiving Dinner Drive Thru at Georgia World Congress Center on November 26, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. The annual event was converted into an drive thru outdoor concept due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

As two of Trump’s strongest allies, Senator Loeffler and Senator Perdue emulate his racist rhetoric and inaccurate election fraud claims. Their opposition to strengthening the Affordable Care Act, expanding medicaid, and protecting reproductive health care is a direct attack on Black communities that are low-income by leaving them with less health care options. 

This race is not about opposing policies on health care, it is a matter of life and death, and a determining factor for whether or not Black communities could have the economic relief to support themselves and loved ones during the pandemic that just saw an increase in coronavirus cases nationwide.

But it’s not just the Senate races we have to be on the lookout for; local and state election runoffs are on December 1, 2020 — including the next District Attorney for the Western Judicial Circuit. This race is vital for criminal justice reform in the state — District Attorneys have the power to decide who is prosecuted and determine the severity of prosecutions. They enact laws that can make our communities safer and are the decision-makers who hold police officers and elected officials accountable. 

A win for Georgia is a win for Black communities nationwide. It’s a clapback to the decades-long, coordinated effort to undo the voting rights of the Civil Rights era. That’s why we’ve endorsed Deborah Gonzalez for District Attorney alongside Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff for Senate — candidates who vocally support voting rights and actively fight against voter suppression in the state.

We Can Continue To Build Black Political Power In Georgia’s Runoff Elections

Georgia is ready for progressive change and Black Georgians will lead the way. Here are a few ways to vote and help win the Senate and local races in Georgia. 

Confirm your voter registration status. You do not need to have voted in the November 3rd general election to be eligible to vote in the December 1st or January 5th runoff elections, however you must be a registered voter to participate.

Register to vote if you turn 18 by January 5th! The voter registration deadline for the December 1st runoff has already passed. If you haven’t already, register to vote by December 7th to participate in the January 5th runoff election. 

Vote by mail. If you vote by mail, be sure to request your ballot as soon as possible! If you are voting absentee in the December 1st runoff as well as the Senate runoff in January, you will need to request your ballot twice. 

Vote early in-person. For the December 1st election, early in-person voting will take place at designated locations in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties from November 23rd through November 25th. For the January 5th election, early in-person voting begins December 14th through December 31st at designated voting locations in your county. 

Vote in person on election day. Polls open on December 1st and January 5th from 7am to 7pm.

Black Georgians played a huge role in electing Kamala Harris as the first Black person and first woman as Vice President — we have the chance to make history again by electing Raphael Warnock as the state’s first Black Senator. We can win this race and create a better future for Georgia, for Black communities, and for the movement overall.

—

Arisha Hatch is the Executive Director of Color Of Change PAC.

TOPICS:  Election 2020 Georgia Senate race wnba Raphael Warnock
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now