It’s a Numbers Game

Sometimes numbers stick in my brain and sometimes they don’t.

This year alone, legislators have filed 955 Bills and 662 Resolutions. So if you bring a bill to my attention just by its number, I’m going to say, “Tell me what the bill does.”

After Crossover Day this Monday, some bills that don’t make it will actually change numbers as they get attached to other bills to help them cross the finish line. The numbers are a moving target.

Here are some other numbers that did stick in my brain this week.

33 R, 23 D: The Senate Partisan Divide
29: “Yes” Votes Needed to Pass a Bill in the Senate
37: “Yes” Votes needed to pass a Constitutional Amendment in the Senate

Calculated Moves

It takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber to pass a Constitutional amendment, which means the Republicans cannot pass certain ballot initiatives without some help from across the aisle. This is an important negotiation power for the Minority Party.

This came into play this week when the “Local Consent Calendar” came up for its daily vote. Local bills impacting cities and counties are placed on the Calendar by local delegations. They are usually non-controversial and therefore voted on all together.

But this week the “Calendar” contained a bill to allow Ware County to change its Elections Board from a bipartisan board chosen by the political parties to one appointed by the all Republican County Commission — a partisan power grab enacted through local bills about a dozen times last term. Democrats wanted to go on record opposing this, but by voting against the entire Calendar, we would also inadvertently kill a Constitutional Amendment Resolution authored by the powerful Rules Chair (requiring a 2/3rd vote).

Since the Rules Chair has the power to block bills from coming to the Senate floor, it’s never a good idea to make him mad, especially right before Crossover Day. But only a local legislator has the ability to pull out a bill from the Local Consent Calendar to be voted on separately. So we explained the dilemma to the Rules Chair, who convinced a Senator from Ware County to pull out the Elections Board bill to be voted on separately. Problem solved. Democrats got their opposition vote recorded and the Rules Chairman got his Constitutional Amendment.

Republican Votes Don’t Add Up

In the Senate, it takes 29 votes to pass a bill, which keeps the 33 Senate Republicans close to their seats. If just five of their members aren’t there to vote, or they join Democrats in dissent, the bill fails. Democrats also now have an unlikely ally in a Republican freshman Senator who came from the House and is proudly against anything that restricts freedom from government interference and infamous for voting “no” on almost everything. That sometimes gives Democrats an additional opposition vote.

During an 11 hour marathon on the Senate floor Thursday, Republicans failed three times to get to that magic 29 votes. It’s unusual for bills to fail on the floor. The following bills failed:

SB 114: City of Buckhead referendum
SB 196: Making seat belt evidence admissible in car wreck cases
SB 57: Sports and horse betting without a statewide referendum

Three Cheers for Unanimous Votes

This year it’s been unusual to see a vote count of 56-0 on the Senate floor. But this week it happened three times in one day. Each time, everyone broke out in applause. In a parliamentary inquiry, the Senate Majority Leader joked, “Should we have the Secretary of the Senate check the machines?” The Lt. Governor retorted, “Who says we can’t work together?”

The bills we agreed on all had to do with child welfare — respite care for foster parents, access to mental health services prior to parental termination, and allowing children to testify in parental termination cases without being under oath.

“Don’t Say Gay” Bill Gets Deep-Sixed

Sometimes certain bill numbers do become memorable. This year, SB 88 became known as Georgia’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which banned discussion of LGBTQ issues in school without parental consent.

This week, the Education and Youth Committee heard a very different Committee substitute that required local school boards to create policies to address gender identity and private schools and camps to notify parents when gender identity issues were to be discussed. Senators and constituents who were initially in favor of SB 88 suddenly changed their minds once they heard the bill attempted to regulate private schools and camps. The bill was ultimately tabled.

Republicans Zero In on Elections. Again.

SB 222, a bill to prohibit county and municipal governments from taking third-party donations to help fund elections, also came up during the marathon Thursday session. In my opposition speech, I reminded my colleagues that in the four years I sat on the Ethics Committee where we required County Elections departments to purchase expensive new voting equipment with HB 316, and created onerous requirements for Elections staff with SB 202, there were exactly zero fiscal notes attached to those bills and zero dollars appropriated to help cover these unfunded mandates. Sadly, the bill passed with a party line vote of 33-23.

We’ve been keeping track of SB 221, another bad Elections bill that would completely eliminate ballot drop boxes, make it easier for voter registrations to be challenged, and add more unnecessary steps for elections staff to “protect against fraud.” The Secretary of State’s office warned that as written, SB 221 could violate the National Voter Registration Act, but the bill was voted out of Committee. Thankfully, it looks like SB 221 never made it out of the Senate Rules Committee, which means there’s zero chance we’ll be voting on it on Crossover Day.

Crossover Day Math

Monday is Legislative Day 28, also known as Crossover Day. It’s the deadline for bills to pass at least one chamber in order to cross over to the other chamber for passage this year.

I counted how many bills and resolutions we have voted on in the Senate during the first 27 Legislative days: 11 Resolutions and 67 Bills. The calendar for Crossover day includes 74 bills. That means that on Monday, the Senate will consider just about as many bills as we have considered so far during the entire session. The Senate should take a time-management course.

We celebrate our wins when bad bills get tabled, or don’t make it to the floor in time for a vote. But the game is not over until we adjourn Sine Die. And then there’s next year. I’m still in the game.

On the other hand, this is what it looks like when Republicans join Democrats to take down a bad bill. This is how the City of Buckhead went down.

Mustering the Troops

North DeKalb Legislative Town Hall: Join me, Senator Sally Harrell, and Dekalb House Reps Scott Holcomb, Karen Lupton, Shea Roberts and Long Tran, Thursday, February 23rd, 7 pm in the Arrow Creek Room oat 4445 Buford HIghway in Chamblee. Register here.  

Indivisible Marching Buddies Legislative Update: If you need a virtual option, you can register and attend a Legislative Update featuring me and Scott Holcomb’s Chief-of-Staff Ann Abromowitz, at 7pm, Wednesday, February 22nd.

Read on to find out why you need to know what’s going on and what you can do!

Putting on the Combat Boots

Legislative Day 20: It’s the halfway point in the trenches of the 40-day legislative session. The political terrain is getting rough, so it’s time to bring out the combat boots. There’s hope that the new House leadership may neutralize these threats, but that’s uncharted territory. In the meantime, we have to suit up for the battles ahead.

Doing Reconnaissance on Committees

Committee Assignments: This session, the new Senate top brass relieved me of some of my prior Committee duties, reassigning me to Committees that hear fewer bills. Sidelining certain Senators is an all too common tactic. Two members of the Senate Democratic Leadership were removed from the powerful Rules committee — the committee that decides which bills move on to the Senate floor for a vote. Now Senate Rules is only 17% Democratic, which, along with more right-wing Committee Chairs, leaves the gates unguarded and wide open for lots of bad bills. Democratic bills from both the House & Senate will hit a bottleneck in the Senate when there are more bills than motions available from Democratic Rules Committee members who make motions to move bills forward.

My team and I are using the time not spent in Committee to scout out the status of the most problematic bills so we can better plot our defensive strategy. It’s too bad I’m no longer on the Senate Ethics Committee. I would have made a strong ally on a new Republican bill to do away with barcodes on ballots, something I fought hard for when we considered a new voting system for the state four years ago.

Honoring False Heroes: Clarence Thomas and Kelly Loeffler

Tuesday was a tough day on the Senate floor as we battled highly partisan bills. Democrats were outgunned on SB 69, a bill to erect a statue of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a native of the coastal town of Pin Point, Georgia, on Capitol grounds. We fought this bill last year, so once again, my colleagues argued that the People’s House is no place for statues of polarizing figures like Justice Thomas whose rulings have undermined civil and women’s rights. Last year’s bill never came up for a vote in the House, but we don’t know if we can count on that again.

Senate Republicans also passed SR 65 honoring former US Senator Kelly Loeffler and her partisan voting group, Greater Georgia, that explicitly registers Conservative voters. It’s one thing to recognize the service of a former elected official, but another to honor partisan aims. 

Heavy Casualties in Healthcare 

The fight for greater healthcare access took another hit this week as the Senate passed SB 65, the Governor’s bill to replace the federal healthcare.gov insurance marketplace with a Georgia state insurance market, GeorgiaAccess.gov. Unlike healthcare.gov, the new Georgia Access website does not compare insurance options, making it harder to know which plan is best and forcing consumers to call multiple brokers individually. Brokers can then sell plans that give them more profit, and consumers fewer benefits.

This week, we received reports that Grady Hospital is at full capacity and Piedmont Hospital is taking its overflow, all of which is a direct result of the closure of Wellstar’s Atlanta Medical Center and the state not fully expanding Medicaid.

Navigating a Minefield: Gang Bills

The Governor’s tough on crime and gang-related bills have been a mixed bag. Democrats presented a united front against mandatory minimum sentencing bills, which we know only increases our prison population with non-violent offenders and  disproportionately affects people of color. But some of the bills have good stipulations. It’s been hard to decide how to vote.  

This week brought both kinds of bills. SB 44, a mandatory minimum bill to increase penalties for gang recruitment, passed mainly along party lines. But SB 12, an “omnibus” gang bill had several provisions that Democrats support like prohibiting those convicted of domestic violence from possessing a firearm and increasing penalties for those that abuse disabled adults. Most of the Democratic Caucus, including me, voted yes on that bill, but some opposed.

Gaining Ground for the Disabilities Community

The highlight of my week was coming together with colleagues on both sides of the aisle for a press conference on “Wages and Waivers”. It was an incredible show of support for an issue that was barely getting any attention from lawmakers and state leaders just a few years ago. 

It’s been 25 years since the US Supreme Court ruled that institutionalizing adults with intellectual & developmental disabilities (IDD) violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since then, Georgia has struggled to provide the infrastructure that allows Georgians with IDD to live, work and play in their own homes and communities. At the press conference, I announced SB 198, my bill to create an IDD Innovation Commission that will bring together stakeholders and subject matter experts to delve into these complex issues.

SB 198 has strong bipartisan support. The bill must pass the Health & Human Services Committee during the next two weeks in order to become law this year. Please email and call members of the Senate HHS Committee and urge them to support SB 198.

Scouting the Terrain

There are lots of bad bills lurking ahead — bills on religious liberty, banning homeless camps, eliminating cashless bail, tougher penalties on crime, state preemptions of local housing ordinances, transgender treatment bans, limiting class discussion on sex & gender, elimination of hospital regulations (certificate of need or CON), punishing District Attorneys using prosecutorial discretion, and limiting access to the courts (tort reform) — just to name a few (Whew)!

The Road Ahead

If these bills pass the Senate before Crossover Day, we’ll have another chance to shoot them down in the House. Please keep watch, read and share this Snapshot around, especially when we call on you to take action!

Back to School Edition

Getting enough sleep during the legislative session can be tough. Even when I’m sleeping, I dream about what happened the day before. This week I had the classic “I forgot to go to class” dream, which made me realize that lately, the legislature has been feeling more like school than a policy making session.

Instead of passing lots of bills (the Senate finally voted our first bill out of the chamber this week), I’ve spent hours in Committee meetings listening to lectures.

Lecture Hall on Literacy

This week and next, two Senate Committees (1) Education & Youth and (2) Higher Education, are meeting together to learn about issues that impact kids across the continuum. This week focused on literacy.

3rd Grade Reading Proficiency: We learned that only 25-30% of Georgia students can read proficiently by the end of third grade and children that can’t are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Of course, this was not news to me. More than twenty years ago, I remember being told the same thing when Governor Roy Barnes mandated smaller class sizes. Those didn’t last long, due to a decade of Republican budget cuts.

Evidence-Based Curriculum: University System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Sonny Perdue told us that our universities are not adequately preparing future teachers to teach reading. A USG survey found that across the university system, at least 44 different programs are used to prepare teachers to teach reading. Once teachers enter the workforce, they are expected to teach “boxed curricula” programs purchased by their local school districts. The same study found that at least 65 different reading programs are used to teach reading at elementary schools across the state. These programs are not only inconsistent — most are not evidence-based.

Doing My Homework on School Facilities

Behind the scenes, I’ve been digging into the issue of aging school facilities. How do we ensure school building safety, and does the state have a role in holding school systems accountable?

Putting out the Fire: What I’ve learned is that the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s office inspects schools for fire safety in small, rural school districts, but large metro area school districts use their own Fire Marshal.

Cleaning Up the Lunchroom: County Boards of Health inspect school cafeterias, but not other areas like bathrooms.

Department of Education: I learned that the DOE’s role is to require local districts to submit a five-year facilities plan. But beyond that, nothing gets inspected unless someone complains loud enough.

Bottom line, no one is in charge of inspecting school buildings and there is no real accountability for school districts that fail to maintain their facilities.

Simply put, I don’t think this is adequate, and the government is not doing its job. I will keep pushing.

Touting Technical School Education

You might remember that the Georgia Senate appropriated $4 million in the budget last year to help build an extension of Georgia Piedmont Technical College in north DeKalb, but the Governor vetoed the funds. I’m still working to get this done.

This week I spent two mornings in Doraville addressing technical school education. It’s too early to say, but when conversations among a city, a transit agency, a private developer, and a technical school system start happening, it begins to look like progress! Friday morning, I was able to greet Senator Jon Ossoff, pitching the plan to him and asking for his support. Stay tuned!

Alphabet Soup: Putting the DD back in DBHDD

I know. That’s a lot of letters!

The first “D” stands for Department. The “BH” is Behavioral Health. And finally, the “DD” is for Developmental Disabilities.

Due to the efforts of the late Speaker David Ralston, the legislature has taken huge steps forward ensuring Georgians have access to mental health services. But not as much attention has been paid to the 7,000 individuals living with developmental disabilities who have been on a waiting list for services for years. Last year I sponsored SR 770 which created a Study Committee on these issues. We traveled all over the state, hearing horrific stories of overwhelmed families unable to access services.

This week I met with Georgia DBHDD Commissioner Kevin Tanner. My assignment is to map out the structure for a Developmental Disabilities Commission, much like the Behavioral Health Commission that has generated much needed improvements to Georgia’s mental health system. I give Commissioner Tanner an “A” for effort. He came to our meeting loaded with wise advice.

Confronting Old School Sexism on The ERA

When I first joined the Senate in 2019, I co-sponsored a bill to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). At the time, after Democrats gained control of Congress, there was a renewed push across the county for states that hadn’t yet ratified the ERA to do so. I was hopeful that Georgia could do it and we even had some bipartisan support. But the anti-abortion advocates got wind of the effort and convinced Republicans to vote no because the ERA could give women legal standing to challenge anti-abortion laws. The resolution failed once it got to the Senate floor.

With abortion essentially banned in Georgia, I had renewed hope that we could be successful this year. I filed the resolution this week, but once I started talking to my Republican colleagues who seemed open to it back in 2019, I got lots of excuses. “It’s not needed, everything’s fine,” was a common refrain. Of course women know otherwise. The wage gap, sexual harassment, and violence against women persists in Georgia.

Penmanship & Postcard Advocacy

I know it can be frustrating to continuously hear excuses from lawmakers on issues of equality. This week I met with a group of women from my church who wanted feedback about the most effective way of voicing their concerns to legislators. We decided on old-fashioned postcards and they are now planning to host some postcard writing gatherings. Be sure to read future “Snapshots” to get ideas about what to write legislators about at your own postcard parties! This week you can start with why we still need an Equal Rights Amendment.

Future Assignments & Projects: Thursday night, February 9th, I’ll be on GPB’s Lawmaker Program (that’s on TV, 7pm). Please tune in, or watch online at https://www.gpb.org/television/show/lawmakers!

Next week begins with Legislative Day 13, which means we’re already halfway to Cross-Over Day — the day a bill must pass the Senate to be considered by the House. Bills that don’t make it out by Cross-Over Day can still be considered next year. Sine Die is scheduled for March 29th. Spring Break is on its way!

It was a privilege to speak at Mental Health Awareness Day at the Capitol. Over 1,000 people from across Georgia in support of “The Year of the Peer” as we address Behavioral Health policy.

In the Weeds with Georgia’s Budget

“There is nothing that we will do in this building that directly touches your constituents more than this document.”

— Senate Appropriations Chair Blake Tillery

Week Two: Word spread through the halls — “The budget’s out!” Legislators queued up to get their inch-thick, spiral bound copy of the Governor’s proposed budget — a document the Governor’s Office of Planning & Budget has been working on since last summer.

Budget Basics: According to Georgia’s constitution, the budget bill must originate in the House. This year the Governor’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024) is HB 19. There’s one other budget bill, HB 18, commonly called the “little budget” or “amended budget” that allows for adjustments to the 2023 budget (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023). The Appropriations Committees will take up the “little” budget first.

What’s a Budget? I like to think of the budget as containing thousands of little bills, since each line-item has the potential to impact the lives of many Georgians. I also see the budget as a statement of values — what we decide to fund and what we decide to leave out is a direct reflection of what we value as a state.

Lots of Fertilizer Produces Revenue Growth

Everyone’s abuzz about Georgia’s $6.6 billion “surplus.” I don’t actually think of this money as a surplus. The size of Georgia’s budget is determined by the Governor when he sets the next year’s revenue estimate. Purposefully setting that estimate low can almost guarantee that revenues will be higher. A “surplus” makes it sound like we collected more money than we should have, which can give the wrong picture when you look at the State’s unmet needs (not an accident). If the revenue estimate was set higher and these needs, such as the 7,000 people waiting for disabilities services, were actually budgeted for, there wouldn’t be so much leftover money. The Governor has plenty of room for playing around with these numbers, depending on the impression and message he wants to create.

So what about that unspent money? First, the Governor proposes that $1.1 billion go to the Georgia Dept. of Transportation (GDOT) to make up for the six months of not collecting motor fuel taxes. Second, the Governor intends to give $2.1 billion back in income and property tax cuts. That leaves about $3 billion for legislators to squabble over during the next few weeks. Because it is projected that next year’s revenue will not be quite as flush as last year’s, the focus will be on one-time spending projects. The 2024 budget revenue estimate is set at $32.5 billion.

Weeding the Medicaid Rolls

Medicaid Expansion (miniature style): The new House Speaker has already stated that he does not see a full Medicaid expansion happening this year because he wants to give the Governor’s plan a chance. This plan, named “Georgia Pathways,” does several things. First, it allows significant subsidies to Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace insurance companies for high-cost claims, resulting in a projected 12% reduction in premiums. Second, it replaces the healthcare.gov ACA website with a Georgia version that merely links consumers with brokers. Third, it expands Medicaid to about 50,000 low-income people who must meet a work requirement, leaving 350,000 uninsured. This miniature Medicaid expansion will earn a much lower federal match than full Medicaid expansion, resulting in a higher cost for fewer covered people.

Medicaid Unwinding: Here’s something that’s not being talked about much. During the COVID public health emergency, over 500,000 Georgians became eligible for Medicaid and under emergency rules, their Medicaid could not be terminated. When the Public Health Emergency expires at the end of March, the State will hire hundreds of caseworkers to reassess eligibility, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Georgians who will lose their Medicaid, many of whom will then be uninsured. It doesn’t have to be this way. By not expanding Medicaid, as forty other states have done, Georgia’s Republican leadership continues to be complicit in the suffering of Georgia families. Which leads me to the next subject.

When Georgia Fails to Water the Garden: “Healthcare, not Fostercare”

When I was in south Georgia last fall for a Disabilities Study Committee meeting, a hospital CEO told me he is often forced to discharge high-risk foster kids to hotels in his community, where they share rooms with caseworkers. When I asked him if these hotels were of the Holiday Inn-type or the Roadway Inn-type, he said these places weren’t even really hotels, describing instead $20 places billed by the hour or the night.

These kids being “hoteled” are the most vulnerable and troubled kids — those with significant behavioral problems due to trauma, drug addiction, mental health challenges or disabilities. During the budget hearings, Commissioner Candace Broce emphasized that the biggest challenge is that these kids should never have been in foster care in the first place.

“These kids need access to healthcare, not foster care,” she said. I agree, but I’d take it one step further. These kids’ parents need healthcare too.

When the Budget Blooms Flowers: K-12 Public Education

Generally speaking, funding for K-12 education in the Governor’s budget looks better than recent years, with no austerity cuts to the funding formula. Of course, no austerity cuts is a pretty low bar during good economic times. In the meantime, Georgia Republicans can’t even decide just how much K-12 education should currently cost. A Senate Study Committee last summer took another look at the funding formula, known as the Quality Basic Education Act (QBE), which dates back to 1985. We’ll see if the Senate does anything about it this year.

Planting Seeds through Higher Education

Four-Year Colleges: Chancellor Perdue told us that enrollment has dropped at 20 of the 26 four-year institutions. Since colleges are funded based on enrolled credit hours, this loss of enrollment will result in lost revenue. The Chancellor also says Georgia is experiencing a greater migration of students attending college out-of-state, and he’s going to do a deep dive to determine why. I can tell him a few reasons, straight from the mouths of my constituents. Guns on campus and abortion bans.

Technical Schools: On the other hand, enrollment at technical schools is up 2% overall and 6% overall in high demand career paths. In 2022, our technical school system served 13% more students than the year before. I plan on continuing to work on obtaining funding to help bring a satellite campus of Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC) to north DeKalb. The GPTC President tells me it would be full of students the day it opens!

Speaking of Weed . . .

With this week’s “weed” theme, I just couldn’t resist. The Georgia Access to Medical Cannibas Commission recently met to hear from the public before approving regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries. This has been long in coming, since the initial legislation allowing use of low THC oil was approved in 2015.

Stay tuned. We’ll be back in the Chamber next week and hopefully we’ll see some Committee meetings scheduled so bills can begin moving. Have a good week and stay warm and dry!

To be hopeless —
Dishonors those who have come before us,
And abandons those who come after us.
It is therefore our duty to
Choose hope

At the Dunwoody 4th of July parade Monday, I shared with Congressman Hank Johnson how I have struggled for over a week to write this email. He responded in his calm, thoughtful way, “Sometimes it’s best to pause.”

He is so right.

Pausing is not the same as resting. Images of the very real impacts of Georgia’s anti-abortion law keep pushing into my thoughts. The young woman whose mental illness has been successfully treated with medication, but who must stop that life-saving medication for the duration of her pregnancy. The young pregnant woman who moves to Alabama seeking support with friends and family, who now faces kidnapping charges because, according to Georgia’s law, her embryo is a person.

There is no doubt in my mind that the health and well-being of pregnant and postpartum women and infants will suffer due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The Women’s Legislative Caucus Charges Forth!

I serve as a Co-Chair of Georgia’s Legislative Women’s Caucus. This is a bipartisan group of female legislators who come together to address issues women have in common. We have traditionally avoided the issue of abortion, but in recognition that Georgia’s pending anti-abortion law will adversely impact women and children, we wrote a letter to Governor Brian Kemp, insisting that his administration immediately address the following issues:

Georgia’s shortage of healthcare providers. We must strengthen efforts to recruit providers and improve timely access to medical care and family planning, in order to reverse our State’s worsening childbirth-related illness and death rates, especially among Black women living in rural areas. Since 1994, 36 Labor and Delivery facilities have closed and now two-thirds of rural births take place outside a mother’s home community.

Childcare & workforce training. We must further invest in programs to subsidize quality childcare in Georgia and make post-secondary education more accessible so that more parents can re-enter the workforce and increase wages. The average cost of childcare ($8,729 per child) is beyond the reach for too many young families, and fuel and food costs are pushing prices up higher.

Childhood Nutrition. Georgia’s kids need adequate nutrition, and recent infant formula shortages demonstrate the need to take action to help ensure no child goes hungry in our state. P-SNAP (Pandemic Supplemental Assistance Program) ended June 30th, returning nutrition assistance dollars to previous levels, which may not be sufficient with rising food costs.

The Women’s Legislative Caucus will gather in August for a one-day symposium so we can obtain input from experts. We will then use this information to draft a legislative agenda.

Needed: Emergency Democracy Workers

Had Stacey Abrams been elected in 2018, Georgia would not have passed the abortion ban. And don’t forget that in 2020 and 2021, Georgia won three state-wide federal elections. Stacey is on the ballot again in November and every single vote in the entire state matters.

Mid-Term elections are not an electoral college situation: If you live in a “red” county, each democratic vote you get to the polls counts exactly as much as a vote anywhere else in the state. You don’t have to “win” your county — the vote still counts.

If your precinct or county is already “blue,” getting people to turn out can be even harder. We need all the voters in the blue areas. Every single one. Because, again, each vote counts individually.

So work where you can, and do what you can. You don’t have to travel to some far part of the state. Every single vote you turn out, no matter where, counts just as much — really more — than “flipping a county.” Take this message out to your friends, and out to your community.

Why the Governor’s Office matters: People often ask me what will it matter if Stacey wins since she will still have to deal with a Republican legislature?

First, the Governor’s office has the resources — not the legislature. When Sonny Perdue was elected the first Republican Governor in 135 years, the Democrats, who had enjoyed majority status all those years, didn’t know what to do anymore. They had relied on the Governor’s office to set the agenda. Likewise, when Republicans lose the Governor’s office, they won’t know what to do.

Second, Stacey will promote moderation as Governor, even as she upholds her values. Republicans will learn they must behave differently to gain some of those resources of the Governor’s office. Explain this to some of your more independent, moderate Republican friends. Stacey won’t get everything she wants, but the far-right Republicans will get even less.

Finally, Stacey will have veto power and we now have enough Democratic votes in the legislature to block legislative veto overrides. I personally never want to experience another train wreck of bad bills like the legislature passed last session, so I’m working to ensure every Democratic House candidate in Senate 40 has what they need to successfully communicate their message.

Down Ballot Races Drive Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV): State House & Senate candidates are local messengers. People know and trust us. They listen to our message. While people often think of down-ballot races riding the coat-tails of popular top-of-the-ballot candidates, it’s the state House & Senate campaigns that drive GOTV efforts. Yet these campaigns are typically underfunded because people tend to give their money to higher-profile races. This needs to change. If there is one lesson we learned last week, it’s that state legislative races matter. By donating to my campaign, you help assure that underfunded House campaigns in Senate 40 will share in those resources.

Time for You to Charge Forth!

I understand you probably feel disappointed, demoralized and depressed with the news of the last few weeks. It’s been really hard. But we need you to turn your rage into action. We need our community to be laser focused for the next four months. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. There are votes that only you can get.

Get up in the morning, look into the mirror, and say, “What am I going to do today to save my country?” Write Governor Brian Kemp a letter, support a candidate financially, write postcards, find a group to go door-to-door with, even if you’ve never done that before. Convince a young person to not give up on voting. Help someone with the absentee ballot process. Have a hard conversation with a Republican leaning friend about why we need Stacey. Talk a friend out of despair and show them that they too can find the votes that make a difference. Get out of your comfort zone.

Choose hope.

Inspired in part by Holly Near’s “I Am Willing.” This song feels to me like a little prayer, or perhaps a hymn. Written following the Kent State shooting and during the Vietnam War, it speaks to issues we are facing today.