Voter voices: Georgians weigh in on crucial Senate runoffs

1 / 5

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Helen Thomason marks her ballot at the Lawrenceville Road United Methodist Church in Tucker, Ga. during the Senate runoff election Tuesday morning, Jan. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

ATLANTA ā€“ Voters across Georgia cast their ballots Tuesday to decide which party will control the U.S. Senate. The election has dominated the airwaves in the state for weeks and both sides have launched intense operations to turn out the vote.

What some Georgia voters are saying:

Recommended Videos



KARI CALLAGHAN, 37

Callaghan said she voted ā€œall Democrat,ā€ an experience that was new for her.

ā€œIā€™ve always been Republican but Iā€™ve been pretty disgusted by Trump and just the way the Republicans are working and especially the news this weekend,ā€ she said, referring to the president's recently recorded efforts to ā€œfindā€ enough votes to overturn President-elect Joe Bidenā€™s win in Georgia. ā€œI feel like for the Republican candidates to still stand there with Trump and campaign with Trump feels pretty rotten. This isnā€™t the conservative values that I grew up with. This is more cronyism."

The stay-at-home Atlanta mother, who voted for Biden in November, said she wasnā€™t bothered with the allegations from Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler that her Democratic opponent, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, does not adequately support the military and police. But she said she became concerned when her 8-year-old daughter started parroting the claims.

ā€œWe were teaching her about all the attack ads weā€™re getting and one day she said, ā€˜Raphael Warnock is evil,ā€™ then the ad came on and she was speaking it word for word,ā€ Callaghan said. ā€œSheā€™s our oldest one so (we're) helping her learn what it means when people say things ā€” that it doesnā€™t necessarily mean things are true."

___

JOHN BABISH, 50

Babish voted for the Republican candidates because he said he is eager to maintain a balance of power in Washington.

ā€œI really hope the Republicans win at least one seat so thereā€™s a split,ā€ said Babish, who cast his ballot in Cobb County, just north of Atlanta. ā€œI think itā€™s better when neither party controls all three branches and can do whatever they want without any kind of check from the other side.ā€

Politics have become far more partisan and divided in recent years, he said.

ā€œI was a kid in the Reagan years, and the story back then was that (Republican President Ronald) Reagan and (then-Democratic House Speaker Tip Oā€™Neill) could fight politically about stuff, but still go out and have a beer at the end of the day and be friends. I think weā€™re far from that now with the leadership on both sides, and I think thatā€™s a loss ā€” a real loss for the country.ā€

___

CORLISS BONNER, 57

Bonner, a chef, got up at the crack of dawn Tuesday and stood in line at an Atlanta church to cast a ballot for her pastor, the Rev. Raphael Warnock. Bonner's been a longtime member of the church he leads, Ebenezer Baptist Church.

ā€œHeā€™s always trying to do the right thing,ā€ Bonner said. ā€œHeā€™s not radical crazy like theyā€™re saying.ā€

Loeffler has run attack ads against Warnock that use clips of his sermons to back up her allegation that he is not supportive of police or the military.

Bonner said those clips of Warnock have been taken out of context.

ā€œWe need somebody in there thatā€™s going to care for the people and not for themselves,ā€ she said. ā€œAnd I know for a fact that Pastor Warnock does that.ā€

___

WILL JAMES, 56

James voted ā€œstraight GOPā€ Tuesday morning in northwest Fulton County.

Still, he added that he was concerned by Republican David Perdue's and Sen. Kelly Loefflerā€™s recent support of President Donald Trumpā€™s challenges of the presidential election results in Georgia.

ā€œI thought it was a bad tack,ā€ said James, who works in real estate. ā€œBut it didnā€™t really change the reasons I voted. It was as much a vote against universal power as it was for either of the candidates.

James said he was worried about losing a balance of power in Washington if Democrats win control of the Senate.

ā€œBasically a lock on power is my concern, lock on Supreme Court, ending filibuster. I think everyone is more power-hungry than they are concerned about the country at this point.ā€

___

CHRIS QUIGG, 45

ā€œI just want a Congress thatā€™s going to able to get something done,ā€ said Quigg, who voted at a church in Marietta, one of Atlantaā€™s northwest suburbs.

ā€œI would prefer to have a balance of power, but I think the last decade has showed that having a Congress that is overwhelmingly opposite of the president is counterproductive,ā€ said Quigg, who declined to say how he voted.

Quigg is a paramedic, and said he thinks more could be done to fight the coronavirus.

ā€œI think we need a much better plan than what weā€™ve got right now because frankly, itā€™s a disaster," he said.

___

ANGELA TRAN, 27

Tran voted for Warnock and Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff at a church in downtown Atlanta. The two candidates represented the ā€œlesser of the two evils,ā€ the progressive art director said.

Tran said the attack ads against Warnock actually swayed her to vote for him and Ossoff.

The ads are "making them seem more radical than they actually are by saying that they actually want to defund the white supremacist police system,ā€ Tran said. Neither Ossoff nor Warnock proposes ā€œdefunding the police.ā€

Now that Tran has cast her vote, she is excited to put the contentious election behind her. ā€œIā€™m done with these commercials,ā€ she said.

___

Associated Press journalists Haleluya Hadero, Jeff Martin and Sophia Tulp contributed to this report.


Loading...

Recommended Videos