With Senate races now called for Georgia Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, it marks the second time in two months that voters flipped the historically red state to blue.
A surge in Black voter turnout, largely due to efforts by Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight coalition and the New Georgia Project, is credited with helping Warnock become the state's first Black senator.
Nsé Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project, said the road to the Democratic wins in Georgia was no easy feat, and in fact, the group faced adversity from the highest levels.
"Probably the largest challenge that we've had to face is a hostile state government. A hostile secretary of state and, in some instances in some counties, hostile board of elections officials who are not excited about our work to expand Georgia's voter rolls," she said.
Boosting morale, according to Ufot, around the voting process was also a huge hurdle to clear, particularly after voter rolls were purged, mainly of Black and minority voters, before Georgia's 2018 gubernatorial race, and more recently, challenges to the results that forced two recounts of the 2020 presidential election results.
"When they voted for [former State House Minority] Leader Abrams when there were literally hundreds of thousands of new voters who came out to vote, and they watched an election be stolen, and they watched no one be held accountable for it, it was really hard to get people to believe in the power of their vote or that their vote would actually count," she said.
According to Ufot, the Warnock and Ossoff wins left her "feeling vindicated" but said the work is not yet done, and having "high-quality conversations" with voters about the issues that matter has to remain a priority to continue boosting voter turnout.
"We need to make sure that we vigorously defend the voting rights laws that are on the books right now and stop any attempt to attack them, as is already being telegraphed by Georgia's secretary of state and Republican leadership," Ufot noted.
Updated January 8, 2021 at 10:00 am ET to remove Stacey Abrams' name from headline. To clarify, Abrams started the organization but has not been actively involved with the New Georgia Project for several years.
Florida lawmakers have introduced a controversial bill restricting some discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms with young students. Supporters say the move empowers parents to have more of a say in what their children learn. Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
Congress this week passed a bill that would end forced arbitration for workplace sexual assault and harassment, one of the most significant changes to employment law in years. Cheddar News speaks with Marjorie Mesidor, Sexual Harassment Attorney, who explains that arbitrators are often retired judges or attorneys who "tends to have a more conservative view both to law and rewards."
As the situation with Russia has grown more precarious, the White House urged Americans remaining in Ukraine to leave immediately. The Biden administration that it sees continuing signs of escalation but did not have specific information detailing a timetable for a potential invasion. Kristine Berzina, senior fellow and head of the geopolitics team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, joined Cheddar News to provide her analysis. "There's talk of an impending phone call between President Putin, President Biden," Berzina said. "That is certainly a good sign to indicate that there would be significant cost."
Terrell Starr, host of 'Black Diplomats' podcast and senior nonresident fellow at the Eurasia Center for Atlantic Council, joins Cheddar News from Kyiv, Ukraine to discuss the mounting tension there.
The White House laid out plans for a $5 billion investment into a national network of charging stations to ease EV driving anxiety. Bruce Brimacombe, CEO of EV infrastructure GOe3 joined Cheddar News to discuss how much needs to be done for drivers to get over the fear of running out of energy. "People need to be able to do what they're doing now," he said. "But that is the way that if you're going to buy an electric car, you got to feel like you're not changing your world." Brimacombe noted that building out the infrastructure between cities was GOe3's own focus.
U.S. automakers are saying that the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, a crucial border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, is affecting their production lines. Michelle Krebs of Cox Automotive warns that the disruption "couldn't come at a worst time," amid chip and labor shortages in Detroit.
AND DETROIT-BASED AUTO MAKERS SAY THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN PLANTS OR SCALING BACK PRODUCTION BECAUSE OF PARTS SHORTAGES.
Plans to add affordable housing to a development in Yellow Springs, Ohio, were squashed after comedian Dave Chappelle and other community members spoke out against the project. Chappelle threatened to pull the plug on his local comedy club and restaurant projects if the development had been approved.
David Tafuri, Former Obama Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor & Former State Department Official, joined Cheddar News to break down the latest geopolitical stories from Beijing, amid China's human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and yet another Russian doping scandal.
Dr. Jennifer Haythe of Columbia University's Irving Medical Center, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the latest with the pandemic, as the debate over child safety rages amid low vaccination rates and states easing school mask mandates.
