Read on Twitter
Let's get away from the depressing news in the US Capitol to some interesting tidbits i found out.
Both US Senate seats for Georgia recently won by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were once held by racist Southern Democrats in a KKK bastion
Ossoff is Jewish. Warnock is AA
1/n
Both US Senate seats for Georgia recently won by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were once held by racist Southern Democrats in a KKK bastion
Ossoff is Jewish. Warnock is AA
1/n
..*African American
Ossoff's seat was once held by Richard Russell. Russell's first statewide political job was as Governor of Georgia at the age of 33. The same age Ossoff will still be when he takes office as a Senator. He will be the first millennial when he takes office 2/n
Ossoff's seat was once held by Richard Russell. Russell's first statewide political job was as Governor of Georgia at the age of 33. The same age Ossoff will still be when he takes office as a Senator. He will be the first millennial when he takes office 2/n
Ossoff, i think, will be the youngest to assume office in the Senate since, you guess it. Joe Biden.
He is also the first Jew to be elected in the state of Georgia and, to the best of my knowledge, the first documentary filmmaker in the Senate.
3/n
He is also the first Jew to be elected in the state of Georgia and, to the best of my knowledge, the first documentary filmmaker in the Senate.
3/n
I like Raphael Warnock's story a lot more because the seat he held was once held by Herman Talmadge, whose first elected office was Governor. The Class 3 seat he will assume was also held by Rebecca Felton (albeit for 1 day) who advocated racist beliefs
4/n
4/n
Warnock is the first Baptist pastor, second (after Oklahoma's Lankford) involved deep into Christian ministry and second ordained Christian minister (after John Danforth) to be elected in the US Senate. He is not the first involved in the ministry elected to public office
5/n
5/n
The same Warnock seat was also held by conservative Democrat Zell Miller, who was once an executive secretary to the segregationist Lester Maddox. Miller eventually became one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, a far cry from the lib/progressive Warnock is
6/n
6/n
Both Class 2 and Class 3 seats held by Russell and Walter George (Talmadge's predecessor) both signed the Southern Manifesto
Georgia was a KKK stronghold. It's therefore redeeming that Georgians recently elected 2 folks who would have been out of place in the old days
7/n
Georgia was a KKK stronghold. It's therefore redeeming that Georgians recently elected 2 folks who would have been out of place in the old days
7/n
By the old days i mean pre-Civil Rights Act days
Both African Americans and Jews played a leading role in fighting for Civil Rights in those days and it is only fitting that a Jew and an African American would be elected in a former segregationist bastion.
8/n
Both African Americans and Jews played a leading role in fighting for Civil Rights in those days and it is only fitting that a Jew and an African American would be elected in a former segregationist bastion.
8/n
While i am yet to see EXACT financial disclosures from both the Ossoff and Perdue campaigns, this Georgia seat election is apparently the most expensive US Senate campaign in history. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/georgia-senate-races-shatter-records/?__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=a6fe38826ebd37831a379750770735d94fb22d1d-1609988401-0-ASkzJTHOaEoohpwuwuP2IvGoGb_9TwvYTlu7SqSGPNRxucM-p5zspz6gCa16nvibr6LrNATyTa4YnEb9P_e97hTjsAKotQw6gLnDl4jqFrIoJ9aUPXdk0-oUk9kkdDmqx5VdoInwNadlQAYpl_P9ed7u87njBre6BJDT3i8Vkid3_3Lq2aIy_8rGrrkEmk2Ro7Ow9w2cv06mnKg0Mk83pMMA1UYT1n3UBZony6UNKfzmoCeLpXNGfhv1rdYlKXnRhgb-UxwCkMMG3AeIbay2n6AcV12rMtxjbnS35inXgh-12xJxirYTY0FNd9ROYnt80lP7zPvuVi4D9RlgyQOXumnUwhMh4JCRVE29WizdkrGCfUqdgy1mtJaqbQdqCqpNzJMOkJp375RJAdK_vH9wNytE7CtYlWEXNrWINe3H1Y7H4r0c83nqxCX4LpujD-HFi45lE8hU_1pEE3JqOyxH1Tp8hmNPhO0n93DA_J2e8A-46Dlmu_fRziPghaUAdb1cHkoriIcvRrtdD28b9x7eRaPPUR9YkWP3WFhzu_F12bK1gpSK-Nu4QJWkRlNBb-rhQR1j-w2jig9s6-uml_CDaOLJkUEAvGzpnf55vkvsZ352OlPfKWLvejqwju2HOgeBCqFOxFH6Sg_yUJf2Dqk3Dmk
9/n
9/n
Loeffler and Warnock's campaigns for the other Georgia seat would not also run far behind. I assume Loeffler self-financed her campaign but there's also a strong fundraising machine behind Warnock in the form of Act Blue.
10/n
10/n
I also did a bit of digging on the other campaign Ossoff ran aka the US House special Election for GA-06 in 2017. The man raised almost 30,5 million USD. 3,5x more than his opponent who beat him. The seat eventually fell to another Democrat https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2018&id=GA06&spec=Y
11/n
11/n
Here's another tidbit i dug up. The recent Georgia runoffs were the first time BOTH Senate seats in Georgia came up to a runoff election and the first time since the 2008 election when one seat came up for grabs and went to a runoff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_United_States_Senate_election_in_Georgia
12/n
12/n
The most recent runoff in the Senate happened in Louisiana in 2014. The most recent runoff in Georgia state history is the Secretary of State runoff in 2018. GOP candidate Brad Raffensperger, the one Trump castigated for not overturning his state's results, won that vote
13/n
13/n
