After incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock was declared the winner of Georgia's runoff election Tuesday night, the Democrat addressed his supporters in a victory speech that followed a graceful concession speech by his GOP opponent Herschel Walker.
But, after declaring victory in Georgia to serve his first full six-year term in the upper chamber, Warnock returned to one of Democrats' favorite — but debunked — claims: Georgia Republicans' election integrity legislation resulted in racist voter suppression. Apparently, according to Warnock, the fact that voter turnout again set records in the 2022 Senate runoff — just as Peach State voters did in the midterm primaries and general election — caused problems that he smeared as "voter suppression" in a race that, again, Warnock won.
"There are those who would look at the outcome of this race and say there's no voter suppression in Georgia," Warnock told his supporters Tuesday night. "Let me be clear: Just because people endured long lines that wrapped around buildings — some blocks long — just because they endured the rain and the cold and all kinds of tricks in order to vote, doesn't mean that voter suppression does not exist," Warnock insisted. "It simply means that you the people have decided that your voices will not be silenced."
After claiming victory, Raphael Warnock insists voter suppression was at play in the runoff election because... voter turnout was so high (including the largest early voting day in Peach State history) that some Georgians had to wait longer than normal to cast ballots. pic.twitter.com/iZxIyhwDvv
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) December 7, 2022
It's more than a little convenient that Warnock's supposed specific evidence of "voter suppression" are all the signs of record-setting voter turnout. Instead of any specific allegations of actual voter suppression — which is illegal, mind you — Warnock could only make the flimsy claim that "all kinds of tricks" were employed to prevent Georgians from casting ballots. Clearly, those supposed "tricks" weren't successful. As Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger noted during the runoff campaign, Peach State voters even set the record for "largest early voting day" in Georgia history.
So yes, Georgians may have found that increased turnout meant there were longer lines at polling locations, but that's not evidence of voter suppression. Nor is chilly weather, as of last check. What's more, what happened in Georgia in 2022 is definitely not the dystopian "Jim Crow 2.0" prediction that is still being peddled by Democrats. Nope, the reality is that it's fall in the Peach State where Georgians chose, at record levels, to be active participants in their government in the wake of Georgia's new election law that made it easier to vote and harder to cheat.
It's probably not the best political decision for a winning candidate to use their victory speech to undermine the election that delivered their victory as tainted by voter suppression. But, as with most Democrat talking points, the reality apparently matters little to Warnock's desire to continue peddling his party's debunked talking points.
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