by Robert Fischer
I never thought that the Democrats would win Georgia this year. I remain as stunned as people elsewhere by the possibility of Biden winning Georgia. Win or lose, it appears the state might be tilting toward the Democrats. The two outstanding Senate contests seem to confirm this.
My shock harkens back to my experience here beginning in the 60s, with the right wing Democrats in control before their rebirth as conservative Republicans after 2002. For a long time now, one couldn’t get elected dog-catcher here without being a Republican. When I voted this time, for example, there were only a handful of Democrats on the ballot; many offices were simply uncontested.
I remember working with a friend* against Larry McDonald, a urologist, in the Georgia 7th district congressional race. We were informal advisors in the campaign of Quincy Collins , a former prisoner of war who ran as a Republican. A member of the conservative anti-communist John Birch Society, McDonald was an admirer of Senator Joseph McCarthy. In addition to McDonald, the 7th district was also home to J. B. Stoner, an American neo-Nazi and segregationist who was convicted of the bombing of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This was the reality for much of my early years in the state.
The good news is that Georgia might very well become competitive in its politics rather than being the rubber stamp it has been for the Republicans for some time now. And that would be good for all of us.
*My friend, Nick Wynne, taught history with me and went on to become the Executive Director of the Florida Historical Society. He and I were young and idealistic, neither Democrat nor Republican, and we believed that Congressman McDonald was unethical, outrageous, and downright dangerous. McDonald was killed while a passenger on Korean Air Lines Flight 007, shot down by the Soviets in 1983. Today, Nick and I find ourselves in the same role in opposition to a president who is unethical, outrageous and downright dangerous.