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.
The U.S. is back in negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran, years after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which had been meant to curtail the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear ambitions. Former State Department senior advisor to the George W. Bush and Trump administrations, Christian Whiton, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss. “It appears to be very similar to the original JCPOA, which does put some constraints on Iran's nuclear program, but also has sunset provisions, including some that in the original plan were expected to take effect in 2025," he said. "And so, if we just reenter that plan, really it just buys perhaps a few years of slowing down, stopping, whatever you want to say, Iran's nuclear program."
The U.S. has announced the first of what could be multiple levels of sanctions against Russia after Moscow recognized two regions of Ukraine as independent. This comes as Britain imposes sanctions on five Russian banks and two oligarchs, and Germany freezes the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Terrell Star, a foreign affairs reporter at The Atlantic Council, joins from Kyiv to discuss.
Growing tensions in Ukraine might soon be impacting consumers in the United States. With Russia on an invasion footing in the region, gas prices are predicted to go up 10 to 15 cents a gallon in the next coming weeks, according to Robert Sinclair, spokesperson for AAA. Sinclair joined Cheddar to break down what could happen even further. "We've been seeing prices go up, and there's been nothing that's happened to affect supplies," he said. "But it's something known as the fear tax where just the talk of something that might interfere with supplies leads to prices going up speculatively."
The end of 3G is upon us. On Tuesday, AT&T became the first major provider to disable its 3G services, and T-Mobile and Verizon plan to follow suit later this year. The shutdowns are expected to impact millions of vehicles that use 3G networks for updates, remote connection, and certain emergency and convenience features. Lance Ulanoff, the U.S. Editor-in-Chief of TechRadar, joined Cheddar's Closing Bell to discuss the ramifications of the changeover.
A new report shows nearly 240 former officials in Congress, the White House, and regulatory agencies have changed careers to work in the crypto industry.
President Biden unveiled new economic sanctions on Russia for what he called "the beginning of a Russian invasion". This came one day after Putin sent troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine. Alex Ward, national security reporter for POLITICO, explains what these sanctions might do to the global economy.
U.S. stocks ended today's session sharply lower on the heels of rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Melissa Brown, Managing Director of Applied Research at Qontigo, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin to impose sanctions on Russia, calling recent troop movement into Ukraine an 'invasion.' Biden and other government officials including from the State Department have begun to classify the Russian troop movement as an invasion after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to two independent Ukrainian areas in an alleged "peacekeeping" mission — which the West considers an act of aggression. Biden said Russia will continue to pay 'an even steeper price' if it continues sending troops into Ukraine. What happens next? Will Putin find a way around these sanctions? Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joins Closing Bell to discuss Biden's remarks, how the West will protect Ukraine since it doesn't belong to NATO, and more.
