Tuesday's special election to replace Tom Price in Atlanta's affluent northern suburbs has generated an unprecedented amount of voter enthusiasm, money and attention, locally and beyond. People who have never before been civically active or participated in political campaigns have cut checks, joined social media groups and even volunteered their time to help shape what many see as a uniquely important race with national implications.
For some voters, including local members of Bikers for Trump, it's about sending a clear-cut message to the entire country: that Georgia is a red state and fully behind Donald Trump.
Democrat Jon Ossoff has also attracted a flood of grass-roots volunteers, many people who had never been politically active before November’s election. His campaign said it’s attracted 12,000 volunteers who have helped call likely voters, held parties in their houses to discuss the race with their neighbors and knock on more than half-a-million doors.
Luisa Wakeman was aiming to add an additional dozen voters to that list Tuesday, just a few miles from where the Bikers for Trump members had canvassed days earlier.
A 50-year-old flight attendant from Marietta, Wakeman wasn’t politically active until this year. But after Hillary Clinton’s loss in last year’s election, Wakeman dove headfirst into PaveItBlue, a local civic activist group, and began spending nearly every day off volunteering on Ossoff’s behalf.
“We can’t sit back and watch. We’ve got to get involved in order to make change,” she said. “I don’t want to regret it on June 21.”
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