It seems that anyone that thought former GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler would take her Senate loss and go home may have been mistaken.
After the much vaunted Fair Fight group led by Democrat Stacey Abrams helped to register a reported 800,000 new voters, Republicans have been working hard to make sure their own voters are registered and will turn out come election time – and Loeffler may be the face of that effort in Georgia.
(Point of clarification: Abrams’ group and several others did contribute to voter registration numbers but the Motor Voter Act was fully implemented in 2016, which meant automatic voter registration for driver’s license applicants and renewals – unless the applicant explicitly opted out. Numbers of those who were registered by Fair Fight and numerous others are hard to find because they usually get lumped in with the total new registrants number, many of whom did so at the Department of Motor Vehicles).
The past year was obviously rough for Republicans in Georgia, losing both Senate seats to Democrats and Joe Biden becoming the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton edged out George H.W. Bush by less than 1% in 1992. The losses triggered a microscope on the state’s election laws, blame pointing towards statewide Republican officials and new efforts at turning out voters. (Point of clarification #2: If Fair Fight and related groups were responsible for the majority of the 800,000 new voters, the by-the-nose win of 12,000 votes by Joe Biden should raise an eyebrow.)
Loeffler hopes to have a hand in turning out new voters and perhaps get back in the good graces of state Republicans after losing in the January runoff to Raphael Warnock.
This week, her new group Greater Georgia had their official launch party at PBR at the Battery. The group has been holding smaller meetings with Republican groups for a few weeks but Thursday was their first public-ish event since beginning back in February.
“Incredible turnout at our kickoff event tonight for Greater Georgia,” said Loeffler. “It’s clear that Georgians are fired up and ready to register new voters, engage more communities, and continue restoring election integrity across our state!”
Loeffler also noted that the group is an attempt to keep the momentum going rather than starting over every cycle – so anyone looking for a break from campaigning, you be looking for a while.
“Elections at every level have consequences – and we’re already seeing the consequences of recent elections play out in Georgia and across the country. Conservatives have a winning message, we just need to go out and share it with more people,” said Loeffler. “By registering new voters, broadening our outreach, and rebuilding trust in our election process, we can create better outcomes, strengthen our democracy, and lift up more voices in our state.”
Loeffler may have her work cut out for her. In an interview with NPR, Abrams noted she was excited about the demographics of all these new voters – 45% of them are under the age of 30 (though obviously that means 55% are over 30) and 49% are people of color. According to the Wall Street Journal, black registered voters rose 15%, Hispanic voters by 40% and Asian and Pacific Islanders by 36%. Women rose by 13% and white voters by about 10%.
