DEMS/POLITICS: “Emboldened by statewide victories last year in Virginia and Alabama, Democrats are setting their sights this fall on another Deep South prize once thought to be out of reach: Georgia’s governorship, a seat the party hasn’t held in more than 15 years.
The party has two major candidates with a lot in common: Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans are both veterans of the Georgia state House. Both are running as unapologetic liberals who see a path to victory guided by tapping into black voters, whom they see as an electoral sleeping giant — and courting suburban whites who usually vote Republican but are repelled by President Donald Trump.
It’s a strategy that worked for Democrats in the special election for a Senate seat in Alabama last month. Doug Jones ran up huge margins among African-American voters, who showed up in droves, while running stronger than other recent Democratic candidates in the state’s suburban counties.
Now, Abrams and Evans are testing whether that model can work in Georgia, where the party has lost four consecutive gubernatorial races… In both cases, Democrats said shifting demographics in the South — specifically an influx of young and minority voters — could put some states in play. That wasn’t enough then. This time, though, they think the combination of demographics and Trump’s dismal ratings might be… And while both candidates are seeking to build similar coalitions, there are some differences. Abrams thinks Democrats can change the electorate by targeting liberal and minority voters outside metro Atlanta.”
-Daniel Strauss, “Is this the year Georgia turns blue?,” Politico, Jan. 22, 2018 05:17pm