The Ex-President in Georgia’s Senate Runoff Isn’t Trump
Barack Obama is rallying Democrats for Raphael Warnock. Republican Herschel Walker lacks comparable help.
Atlanta
Barack Obama is a savvy political analyst. Speaking at a rally on Thursday with Sen. Raphael Warnock, Mr. Obama acknowledged that the Democrats’ success in the midterm elections wasn’t the product of their policies or message. Nor did he credit his successor, President Biden, whose name he barely mentioned. Rather, he said Republicans defeated themselves.
“Let’s face it,” Mr. Obama told the crowd of thousands at Atlanta’s Pullman Yard event center. Democrats kept the Senate because “somewhat crazy folks—election deniers—got beat.” Mr. Warnock nodded along from the stage, and the knowing crowd said amen.
They’re right. Democrats kept control of the Senate by beating subpar opponents in Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and elsewhere. Mr. Warnock also outperformed his opponent, football star and political newcomer Herschel Walker, but they’re squaring off again in a Dec. 6 runoff election because Mr. Warnock failed to secure the 50% vote share required to win outright.
The main point of Mr. Obama’s remarks was to cast the current Democratic Party as heir to and embodiment of the civil-rights movement and to portray a vote for Mr. Warnock as a vote for “justice.” He said little about Mr. Warnock’s agenda, but he urged the crowd to the polls by saying, “Imagine if after the Emancipation Proclamation all the abolitionists and civil-rights activists had said, ‘We’re OK now, let’s go home.’ ”
Mr. Obama invoked the memory of a 106-year-old black woman who voted for him in 2008, saying she “witnessed the arc of history bend in the direction of justice” when he was elected. He said that Georgians weary of having to vote twice in a month should remember “the men and women who had to endure the sting of discrimination, and the smack of the billy club” but “didn’t get tired.”
This pitch sounds like a mighty stretch if you’re inclined to believe that Mr. Obama uses the word “justice” as a stand-in for the policies he pursued as president. But if you ignore that, it’s stirring. It’s also perfectly suited for the campaign of Mr. Warnock, a minister who goes even further in appropriating the civil-rights struggle by claiming to be a victim of voter suppression.
“The other side is already playing games,” he told the crowd. He described a legal battle his campaign won against the state to allow early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26, despite a Georgia law that bars voting on the day after a holiday (the Friday after Thanksgiving is a state holiday). The law explicitly mentions primaries and general elections but not runoffs, so Mr. Warnock persuaded a judge to allow the extra day of voting, and Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he may be right about the technical merits. Still, it hardly seems worth raising the specter of suppression, especially in an election where early turnout has smashed the state’s previous record.
Mr. Warnock’s message is tuned to the coalition of liberal voters who have shifted the balance in a formerly deep-red state. One part of that group is black residents, who have long made up nearly a third of the state but have increased their turnout at a higher rate than whites since 2016. The other part is newcomers, white and black, who helped make Atlanta the nation’s third-fastest-growing metropolitan area in 2015-20. The influence of these voters has been enough to flip counties like Cobb and Gwinnett, former GOP strongholds in the populous Atlanta suburbs.
Mr. Walker intended his candidacy to arrest this trend, and Donald Trump persuaded him that he was fit for the job. In 2020 Mr. Walker was one of many black supporters to speak on Mr. Trump’s behalf at the Republican National Convention, and his brief speech was effective, dismissing accusations that Mr. Trump is a racist and praising his economic record.
But Mr. Trump’s reputation fell a long way in Georgia after he claimed the election was stolen. Mr. Walker’s has fallen too. In October two women alleged he’d asked them years ago to abort pregnancies resulting from affairs. He denies the claims, but they’ve helped scare off some of the pro-life voters he hoped to win back.
Mr. Walker’s appeal is greatest when he shifts attention from himself and puts the focus on conservative values. That’s what he did at a Monday rally in Forsyth County, a GOP stronghold northeast of Atlanta where he’ll need to run up the score. He attacked Mr. Warnock on crime for “talking about releasing people out of prison” and on his opponent’s 2011 quip that “nobody can serve God and the military.” The crowd seemed glad to see him stay on message, which he hasn’t always managed.
He didn’t mention Mr. Trump, who carried the county twice on a similar platform, and his campaign has asked the former president not to appear on his behalf in the state. There’s still a big audience in Atlanta’s suburbs for a robust brand of conservative values. But it seems notable that, in this election, Mr. Obama is in and Mr. Trump is out.
Mr. Ukueberuwa is a member of the Journal’s editorial board.