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.
Cheddar spoke to Ufot shortly before Ossoff's race was called by the Associated Press Wednesday and just before a mob entered the U.S. Capitol.
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.
Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are central to whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, all three reacted with indignation to Pres. Trump's mocking of Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who's accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
The FBI's investigation into Prof. Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Brett Kavanaugh is likely to be wrapping up soon. As we await those findings, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who serves on the judiciary committee, said the judge's anger at the accusations may be understandable, but his making a direct, partisan attack against Democrats is "not what we expect from our federal judges."
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The FBI's investigation into Prof. Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Brett Kavanaugh is likely to be wrapping up soon. Senate Republicans have demanded a report, but the FBI continues to broaden its investigation, specifically to a party that was marked in one of Kavanaugh's calendars.
Dipayan Ghosh, fellow at the Shorenstein Center and a former adviser to both Facebook and the Obama White House, said that big tech has been ignoring "the little guy" for a long time and putting tech users and their privacy at risk.
On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it will be raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The news comes after months of criticism and even proposed legislation spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). The "Stop BEZOS" Act introduced in the Senate in September would require corporations like Amazon to contribute to the cost of social services for its employees. Khanna was sponsoring a version in the House. He said he commends Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and believes this move will propel other corporations in the same direction.
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New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was seated behind Prof. Christine Blasey Ford during her Senate testimony last week. The lawmaker, who was seen crying as Ford spoke, said, "It's so sad to me that this is still happening in America...and that in some ways we haven't made that much progress since Ms. Hill testified 26 years ago."
Canada and the U.S. inked a new trade deal late Sunday evening after months of contentious tariff talks between the two allies. Lauren Gardner, reporter for POLITICO Pro Canada, said the trade agreement will benefit dairy farmers and automakers in the U.S.
California became the first state to mandate that publicly held corporations include women on the board. Some people believe that this will prioritize diversity over merit while others, like Asa Regner, deputy executive director for UN Women, say it's a first step toward gender parity in corporate America.
