HuffPo: “At a conference of hundreds of Black church leaders here last week, the message from the pastors and the Georgia political candidates who stopped by to press the flesh sounded awfully similar: Vote in November like your lives depend on it.
“We determine who wins this election,” warned Bishop Reginald Thomas Jackson, the head of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia, which hosted the two-day bipartisan candidate forum on Oct. 6 and 7. “This election is going to be decided by who turns out to vote. If we do not turn out to vote, folk who do not represent our best interests will win this election.”
The 100,000-member congregation, Jackson said, should focus on getting “anyone who’s 18 and can breathe” to vote in November.
Two years ago, Black voters in Georgia helped Democrats flip two Senate seats in a special runoff election and win control of the U.S. Senate. As a result of those stunning electoral victories, the party chalked up an impressive list of legislative achievements, including COVID-19 financial relief, monthly child allowance, drug pricing reforms and the biggest green energy investments in U.S. history.
Now, less than a month from the 2022 midterms, fears are growing among top Democrats that their gains could be reversed if vulnerable incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) loses his bid for a full six-year term. With GOP Senate candidates floundering elsewhere in the country, a victory for the party in Georgia could hand them a narrow edge in the Senate next year.”