Changing political winds? Democrats make midterms case at state convention.
SAVANNAH ― Making a case for electing the “adults in the room” in November’s midterm elections, state Democrats rallied the partisan faithful Saturday at the Georgia Democratic Convention.
Gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms capped more than three hours of remarks by candidates for U.S. House, state constitutional offices and the Public Service Commission. Georgia’s top-of-the-midterm-ticket Democrat, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, did not attend the gathering at the Savannah Convention Center, citing a scheduling conflict.
The speeches touched on issues long core to the party’s platform — Medicaid expansion, reproductive rights, gun control, voting access — but office seekers focused heavily on the cost-of-living challenges everyday Americans are facing under Republican leadership.
GOP members hold all the state’s constitutional offices, nine of the 14 U.S. House seats and have majority control in both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly.
The time has come “to put some Democrats in charge,” said Charlie Bailey, the state party chair.
“Times are hard, and it’s tempting to become cynical,” Bailey said. “But democracy is not broken. It’s stronger than one old fool in the White House who is trying to thwart it.
“Georgia is still the greatest state in the union, it just needs a state government worthy of its people.”
Most speakers struck a similar confident, aggressive tone with a particular emphasis on President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, called Trump a “flesh-eating virus” who has “weakened the immune system of our country: bipartisanship.”
State Sen. Josh McLaurin, the nominee for lieutenant governor, compared Trump, the president’s administration and Republican elected officials to spoiled children who throw tantrums when they don’t get their way. He said: “Voters are tired of children being in charge of government; they want adults in the room again.”
Bottoms channeled her ire toward her opponent, GOP nominee Rick Jackson. The billionaire healthcare executive has campaigned on the claim he would be “Trump’s favorite governor,” and Bottoms seized on that theme throughout her 14-minute-long remarks.
“He may want to be Trump’s favorite governor, but I want to be yours,” Bottoms said before calling out students, mothers who work multiple jobs, small business owners, seniors, veterans and parents as among those she cares about.
“I am working to be the favorite governor of everyone in the state who wants to elect a leader who is thinking of them, thinking of their families, their communities, and working to find meaningful ways to make their lives better,” she said.
For Democrats gathering at their state convention, there are plenty of reasons for such an optimistic pep rally.
Trump’s approval ratings are sagging. Republicans are so worried about their chances of unseating Ossoff that some have taken to guessing the margin of the Democrat’s win.
Just last year, Democrats easily flipped two Public Service Commission seats and clawed away a GOP-friendly state House district. And this year, the party is building one of the biggest turnout machines the state has ever seen.
But optimism is not inevitability. Beneath the cheery convention looms a question of whether the party can actually capitalize on a cycle that appears to be tilting their way.
“The energy is great,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said from the hallway after the speeches concluded, “but this election isn’t about blue or red, but green. Whichever party connects with voters on improving their cost of living will be the party that wins.”
Recent Georgia history demands such caution. Democrats have seen promising cycles fall short before in just about every cycle since Gov. Roy Barnes’ stunning defeat in 2002 helped usher in the GOP’s modern dominance.
The clearest warning came in 2022. Democrats entered that midterm with the afterglow of their 2020 breakthroughs that helped seal Joe Biden’s win and flipped control of the U.S. Senate. Stacey Abrams and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock helmed a ticket stocked with rising Democratic stars.
Republicans, meanwhile, were engulfed in bitter warfare between Trump-backed contenders and an establishment wing led by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Yet the GOP reunited for the general election. Kemp and his allies cruised to victory, and the party’s lone statewide loss was Warnock’s victory over scandal-plagued Republican Herschel Walker.
There are important differences this time. Kemp is a lame-duck governor who no longer anchors the GOP ticket. Polls depict Republican prospects in Georgia’s marquee races as mixed at best, with a neck-and-neck contest for governor and Ossoff holding a commanding advantage in the Senate race.
Even Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon is warning Republicans they can no longer expect to coast as they did through much of the 2010s. In an interview on the Politically Georgia podcast, he noted Georgia was among the few states where Kamala Harris received more raw votes in 2024 than Biden did four years earlier.
“I don’t say that because I don’t think we can win. We can absolutely win. But it’s going to take the entire Republican team,” McKoon said. “We all need to be on the same page. We all need to be rowing in the same direction, and now is the time to make that happen.”
Even with flagging poll numbers, national GOP groups have pledged to spend nearly $60 million in the run-up to November to boost Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins in the race against Ossoff.
Jackson, Bottoms’ opponent for governor, has reserved almost $90 million in general election airtime after spending more than $108 million of his fortune to win the nomination.
Yet Saturday at the state convention, Democratic leaders assured party members the GOP can’t buy their way to victory. Bottoms noted the primary election turnout in May, when Democrats voted in far greater numbers than Republicans despite being significantly outspent. Nearly 150,000 more Democratic ballots were cast than Republican ballots.
“And do we all know what happened the last time the Democrats had a margin, that margin, of primary? Georgia sent a Democrat to the governor’s office,” Bottoms said. “I can feel that momentum in this room.”
