For the moment, Georgia appears to be one of the real “purple” states. Our governor and legislature are dominated by Republicans but both our Senators are Democrats. The list of states that have a Republican governor and two Democrat senators is vanishingly small at five: Arizona, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Hampshire. Of those, the 2024 presidential vote is really only a question in Arizona and Georgia – and possibly New Hampshire, though they last voted for a Republican president in 2000. A lot of national attention is going to be paid to the elections in Georgia this year, both regarding the balance of the close Senate and as a bellwether for 2024.
Chief among the elections this year will be the likely matchup between Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock for Senate. First however, each man will have to officially win their primaries. Some of Walker’s challengers are well-known, like Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, but Warnock’s is not.
Tamara Johnson Shealey
Tamara Johnson Shealey has run in several races before, the biggest of which was the U.S. Senate primary in 2020 which Warnock ultimately won. Shealey placed 6th in a field of 21 candidates, with a respectable showing of more than 100,000 votes. A primary challenge like Shealey’s can take many forms, despite nearly all odds against her of winning. Many primary candidates like Shealey may be looking to advocate for certain issues they may feel are being overlooked, or some are looking to make a name for themselves – either for future career or political considerations. Many political careers have started by a wild hair primary challenge that eventually turns into something serious.
Shealey is a Georgia native, born and raised in Chatham County. She has now lived in DeKalb or Gwinnett Counties for nearly 30 years, working in the beauty industry most of that time.
Sen. Raphael Warnock
That industry is where Shealey began her entry into politics, becoming concerned in 2011 as a business owner about federal tax policies imposed on her business and a lack of health and safety standards in the industry. She founded the Concerned Beauty and Barber Professionals and commenced on a new phase of her career, advocacy. She was a part of getting a bill introduced at the legislature around education standards for licensed beauty professionals.
A look at Shealey’s issue priorities show a mix of traditional Democrat talking points, like raising the minimum wage or Medicare for all, but also some more controversial issues like reparations. The homepage of her website features videos discussing her support for reparations and it is the top issue on that section of the website. Beyond just reparations, she would work to establish a federal agency for descendants of slavery, which would establish a legal definition of descendants. In addition to reparations, the agency would provide services like no interest loans, college tuition reimbursement and funding for Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Some of these are issues that Democrats are open to but reparations, in a time when Democrats are bleeding rural white voters, are perhaps unlikely to succeed legislatively.
Shealey may not have much chance in the upcoming primary but it will be interesting to see if she gets more votes than her last run, this time in a head to head match-up, and to watch what the future may hold for Shealey if she wishes to continue a political career.
