There’s a growing consensus that, with Democrat Matt Lieberman now the first candidate to run for the November 2020 special Senate election to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), the state’s Democrats are facing major complications.
The maverick entrepreneur Lieberman, son of 2000 Democrat vice presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, didn’t bother to get the blessing of important party leaders and office-holders.
With Lieberman unlikely to win the support of his party’s U.S. Senate leaders, Democrats appear to be facing a divided field for the 2020 special election, which narrows their path to victory in a supposed swing state that they need to win in order to control the Senate. Writer Josh Kraushaar with the National Journal tweeted that Lieberman is “unlikely to clear the field” which creates problems for Democrats in trying to flip the Republican seat to their side.
A liberal Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer is worried:
“The race for Isakson’s seat will be a ‘jungle’ special election that will feature candidates from all parties on the same November 2020 ballot – and no party primary to sort out a nominee. Some Democratic strategists have quietly hoped to settle on one candidate to better the chances of avoiding a January 2021 runoff, since Democrats have long struggled to win those head-to-head matchups. Multiple Democratic candidates could complicate that electoral math.”
By the way, Lieberman— who has lived in Georgia for 15 years– is initially coming across as a hard leftist with his major announced positions. Among other stands, he calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, advocates gun confiscation and promotes big tax-and-spend projects.
But here’s the bottom line. There are two big questions for Georgia Democrats as well as all voters: Will other Democrat candidates in the free-for-all election run to the left or right of Lieberman? And will a center-right Republican (or Republicans) ultimately be more attractive to voters and thus secure victory?
