The results of the Georgia Senate run-off are simultaneously encouraging and discouraging. Warnock won! Walker - who's legitimately dain bramaged - got over 48% of the vote! Your opinion on this result is almost a Rorschach test for how you feel about American politics. What has been made crystal clear for the millionth time is just how divided our politics are depending on where you live. The Great Sorting continues to define so much of our political life.
In rural Georgia, as defined by the Washington Post, Walker won by 319,000 votes. There are a fair number of Black voters in rural Georgia, but we are still seeing the prevalence of WWC voters in those rural areas. These are folks who think that cities are combat zones of crime and depravity, because they simply never go there.
In Atlanta proper, Warnock won by 193,000 votes and over 75% of the vote. This is in keeping with normal historical patterns.
What is potentially good news is the continued movement of suburbs towards Democrats. Warnock won by 222,000 votes there, not only in Atlanta's ring suburbs but smaller cities like Augusta, Athens, Savannah and Columbus. The possible qualifying issue is that Atlanta's suburbs are remarkably diverse. Dekalb is substantially African American, for instance.
If the continued presence of Trump Mimics - people whose primary appeal is "celebrity" as opposed to competence - forces college educated suburban voters to become firmly established Democrats, then that is good news long term.
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