Republicans in Georgia are worried about losing a rare off-year election in November because rural voters might not show up at the polls.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
Rare off-year elections for two seats on a little-known utility board in Georgia are making Republicans nervous. That’s because Democrats have more reasons to come out and vote. Emily Jones of member station WABE reports.
EMILY JONES, BYLINE: Some of Georgia’s top Republicans gathered in a barn-style wedding venue in Forsyth County, north of Atlanta, recently for a show of party unity and patriotism.
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BUBBA MCDONALD: (Singing) And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.
JONES: Bubba McDonald led them in song. He’s a longtime member of the Public Service Commission, which regulates the state’s largest electric utility, Georgia Power. Everyone on the commission is a Republican right now, and state party chair Josh McKoon told the crowd to keep it that way.
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JOSHUA MCKOON: We are all united in one goal, and that is to send the message that Georgia is closed to the Democratic party.
JONES: Georgia hasn’t voted for this commission in five years because a lawsuit disrupted the election schedule. Then in June, only 2% of Georgia voters turned out for the party primaries. About twice as many Democrats showed up as Republicans. So now the Republicans are spending time and money, from the governor on down, to get their voters to the polls. Republican state representative Todd Jones says that’s key because many counties like Forsyth, which he represents, don’t have local elections this year, unlike some of the state’s Democratic strongholds.
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TODD JONES: The fact is, we have over 100,000 voters who sit not attached to a city, which means they don’t have a mayor’s race, a city council race – you name it – to get them out. It’s our job to get them out.
JONES: Ron Ray got the message. This commission is important. It has final say over power bills, which it raised six times in the last three years but froze this year. Democrats want more solar and batteries, saying they’re cheaper. Republicans say coal and gas are more reliable.
RON RAY: I wasn’t aware of how big a deal it was, honestly, until tonight.
JONES: He learned about the rally from a Republican email list. He says the PSC wasn’t on his radar before, but now he’ll go vote.
For their part, the Georgia Democrats see a chance for a rare statewide win that could bode well for next year, when they’re trying to defend a seat in the U.S. Senate. So state chair Charlie Bailey says they’re investing in this race in a way they haven’t before.
CHARLIE BAILEY: The state party’s never spent any money on a PSC race, period.
JONES: He says they’re running phone banks, sending out thousands of mailers and knocking on doors. This battle over voter turnout is testing the strength of the Republican Party that has run Georgia for the last few decades and gives Democrats a rare shot at statewide victory. But even if the Democrats pull out a win, Georgia State University political scientist Tammy Greer says it might just be a blip.
TAMMY GREER: We’ll get to the end, and then someone will do a real quick analysis and say it was because of a Democratic wave or whatever that it looks like, rather than, you know, it just so happened because of the way that the calendar fell.
JONES: For Democratic Chair Bailey, the fight over these obscure seats is a sign Georgia is still in battleground territory. The state narrowly voted for Biden in 2020 and for President Trump last year by 50.7%.
BAILEY: A close election is yet another piece of evidence that this is a battleground. A battleground, by its very definition, can be won and it can be lost.
JONES: And both parties have decided they’re out to win, this year and next. For NPR News, I’m Emily Jones in Forsyth County, Georgia.
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