(Note: these learning modules encompass the actual class lectures, and are designed for those students who have to miss class through no fault of their own, and also as a refresher for all students. Bold print in the notes are what the professor writes on the board.)

LEARNING MODULE: WEEK 6, Georgia- Democratic Hegemony Ends

Georgia is an interesting case study of how the Democrats were successful in constructing a biracial coalition after the Civil Rights Act of 1965 to remain the dominant power right up until the turn of the century. I already have enough questions for the midterm, so I doubt that I would ask anything on the test about Georgia. But it is still an important state to talk about.

Jimmy Carter was elected governor in 1970, which started a string of racially progressive Democratic governors that lasted until 2002. Carter successfully formed a broad ideologically and racially inclusive coalition. Republicans were not able to paint him as a liberal, as the state legislator was a Naval Academy graduate, a peanut farmer, and a candidate who showed respect for George Wallace supporters by seeking their votes and sweeping the small towns and rural areas in the Democratic primary. He had great people skills, as he spent four years travelling across the state making speeches to small groups and shaking every hand at country stores. Carter painted himself as the common-man candidate compared to his wealthy, “country club” lawyer Democratic opponent. He was viewed as a racial liberal, as he shook black as well as white hands, a big change for the historically segregated South. As governor, Carter appointed the first African American to the state Pardon and Paroles Board, created a biracial commission, and hung Martin Luther King’s portrait in the state capital. He also met weekly with the AFL-CIO president, and implemented good government measures such as state government reorganization and requiring that banks bid for state funds.

The next two governors, George Busbee and Joe Frank Harris, were also ideologically inclusive Democrats, and both served two terms (Carter served only one 4-year term, as he spent the next two years campaigning in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire for the party’s presidential nomination.). These governors successfully pursued economic development projects, such funding the Georgia Dome sports arena (which attracted the Super Bowl and the Olympics), and an ambitious four-lane highway program. They also stressed education by establishing statewide public kindergartens and significantly increasing public elementary and secondary education funding. Both were racial liberals and worked with organized labor, such as by removing a waiting period for unemployment eligibility. Both had solid resumes of public office experience, with each boasting 18 years of experience in the state legislature and eventual leadership positions (House majority leader, and House Appropriations Committee Chair).

The last two-term Democratic governor that Georgia has had (one, one term Democrat followed) was Zell Miller, who was initially elected governor in 1990 at a time when the Republican party had become such a force that they were winning at least 46% of the vote in gubernatorial and U.S. senate elections. So how was ole Zell Miller able to pull off two final victories for the Democrats? Well, first he had a common man image, being a country music fan from rural north Georgia, and painting himself as an “outsider” who as lieutenant governor had stood up to the long-time house Speaker. Second, he had an impressive political resume, having been the state lieutenant governor for four terms (despite being a moderate liberal overall, he had opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, an act of political weakness that he later viewed as shameful). He supported an education lottery to better fund public education, and got enacted the lottery-based HOPE program providing college scholarships for high school students with B averages. He also succeeded in removing the regressive sales tax on groceries. Miller praised Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic national convention, and unsuccessfully sought to have the Confederate battle emblem removed from the state flag (the next two governors, a Democrat and a Republican, succeeded in changing the flag). Miller appointed the first two African Americans to statewide offices- Attorney General Thurbert Baker (who had been the governor’s floor manager in the state house), and Labor Commissioner Mike Thurmond (who as a gubernatorial staff member had created an innovative Work First welfare reform program). Both were reelected repeatedly to these statewide offices, a rarity in southern politics even today. Miller took a conservative, tough on crime stance, backing a tough DUI law, boot camps for prisoners, and a 2 strikes and you’re out (life in prison) law.

Zell Miller briefly served in the U.S. Senate at the turn of the century after a Republican Senator died in office. His voting record in the Senate dealing with federal issues was a moderate conservative one, which was in the mainstream of the southern Democratic party back in the 1970s (like Sam Nunn of Georgia), but by this century he was the most conservative of the 7 remaining southern Democratic senators (today there are only 4 southern Democrats, 2 each in Virginia and Georgia, none to the right of center). Zell blasted the modern Democratic Party as being too liberal, which was why they were A National Party No More (his book title). Miller’s conservative positions included: putting national security before government unions after 9-11 terrorist attacks; tax cuts (pointing out that Kennedy had cut taxes to stimulate the economy); anti-abortion; pro-workfare instead of welfare; pro-2^nd amendment, though for background checks; opposing extreme environmentalists (he made fun of them wanting to protect areas in Alaska that nobody visited); anti-quotas (he made well qualified black appointments as governor). Zell Miller ended up backing President Bush’s re-election, and at one time got so mad on television that he challenged a political opponent to a duel! The State Democratic Chairman in Mississippi brushed off Miller’s criticism of the liberal direction of their party by accusing Zell of being a hard-core segregationist from way back. Perhaps if Democrats had listened carefully to Miller’s criticisms of their national party, Democrats today would hold more than the 4 U.S. Senators that they have in Dixie, while Republicans hold the other 18 senate seats.

Beginning in 2002, Republicans elected two 2-term governors, Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal. Both were former Democrats, and both had respectable political resumes (11 years in state senate, a longtime congressman). Both had appealing personal or management skills (folksy, steady). Both benefitted from a booming economy and from job growth in Georgia. Both Republican governors showed sensitivity to African American issues. Perdue personally escorted the casket of Coretta Scott King (Martin Luther King’s widow) into the state capitol, where she became the first African American to lie in honor; he also prevented a flag referendum from including any Confederate emblem by working with legislative Democrats. Deal backed a bipartisan criminal justice reform measure that provided lighter sentences for non-violent crimes and a non-prison drug courts alternative. Deal also shielded education from budget cuts. Compared to these two inclusive governors, you might ask how conservative Republican secretary of state Brian Kemp ever got elected governor in 2018 over Democrat Stacey Abrams. Kemp ads had him wielding a shotgun that he said no one would take away, riding in a truck pledging to round up criminal illegals, and blasting Abrams as an outsider and a socialist. Liberal African American state legislator Stacey Abrams was actually born in Mississippi, and has lived a life where religion, hard work, and her family are important values. She has also been a leader in voter registration drives and she sued Kemp for voter suppression measures. Well, that election was decided by party identification- 97% of self-identified Republicans and Democrats just voted for their own party’s candidate. Republicans in the 2018 exit polls outnumbered Democrats by 5%, yet Kemp won a cliff hanger with only 51% of the vote, so Abrams actually did better than he did among Independents and moderates. It is interesting that Governor Kemp in the disputed 2020 election upheld his state's voters and rejected Trump's claims to have won Georgia, suggesting that he may be following the pattern of his inclusive two GOP predecessors. They had assembled governing coalitions that stressed similar issues to the Democratic governors of the last three decades of the last century.

Now we turn to the seesaw where Democrats first lost both of the state's two U.S. senate seats, but then gained both of them back, as the losing candidates in all cases seemed to pursue more ideologically extreme and overly partisan campaigns. In 2002, Republican Saxby Chambliss beat Democratic incumbent Max Cleland (a war hero and triple amputee) by accusing him of being soft on national defense and too liberal. Cleland had upheld the national Democratic party’s pro-labor union stance in opposing President Bush’s desire to move federal employees across departments to deal with terrorism, and his roll call voting record in the Senate was in the most liberal one-fifth of my ADA-ACU ideological scale. Chambliss had a good political resume, being a 4-term congressman and chairing a key subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security. Chambliss was followed by Republican businessman David Perdue in 2014, who nationalized the election by attacking President Obama and the senate Democratic leader. Democrats offered a strong candidate, Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn (a defense hawk), but Perdue won 59% of Independents and Republicans outnumbered Democrats in exit polls by 2%. Republicans also won Zell Miller's seat in 2004 with Johnny Isakson, who had an impressive resume of 18 years in the state legislature, 3 as state education board chair, and 6 as a conservative congressman. Isakson called himself a compassionate conservative, and knocked off two more conservative opponents in the GOP primary. Democrats nominated liberal African American first-term congresswoman (but with 9 years previously as a state court judge) Denise Majette. Democrats won both of these seats back in the 2020 senate runoff elections, which gave Democrats a Vice Presidential tie breaking control of the U.S. Senate. In this increasingly competitive two-party state, Republican Governor Kemp appointed businesswoman (WNBA Atlanta Dream co-owner) Kelly Loeffler to the seat resigned because of health reasons by Senator Isakson, thereby passing over a more controversial conservative Trump loyalist leader Congressman Doug Collins (who had fought against Trump's impeachment on the House Judiciary Committee). The other candidate who made the special election runoff was an African American and senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church (Martin Luther King's home), Raphael Warnock. In the regular senate election runoff, Republican incumbent David Perdue faced Democrat Jon Ossoff, a former journalist and media company owner, who had money and name recognition thanks to a recent unsuccessful congressional campaign. Both Republicans in the early January runoff blasted their Democratic opponents as socialists with Loeffer calling herself "the firewall for stopping socialism" and Perdue labeling himself as "the last line of defense against this radical socialist agenda" (Hannah Miao, "Here are the issues at play in the Georgia Senate runoffs," cnbc.com, January 4, 2021). Democrats emphasized such popular issues as Medicaid expansion, criminal justice reform, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. President Trump campaigned for both Republicans, raging that the election had been stolen from him, with some party officials afterwards claiming that he had inadvertently discouraged Republicans from voting. Indeed, exit polls found that Republicans had only a 1% edge over Democrats in the runoff election, a clear decrease from the 4-5% advantage that they had enjoyed in the first elections. With both Democrats polling 2-3% higher among their own partisans than were the Republicans, and with both Democrats winning 52% of Independents, the Republican dropoff became decisive in the twin 51-49% Democratic victories (https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/). The 2022 gubernatorial race is a repeat of the last one, with Republican Kemp holding a 4% lead over Stacey Abrams, after Kemp won an easy 74% renomination battle with Trump-backed candidate and senate loser David Perdue. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock seeking reelection also holds a 4% lead over Republican football star Herschel Walker. These close margins split between the two parties shows how politically competitive modern-day Georgia is.