In a landslide victory, former State Representative Stacey Abrams has won the Democratic primary in Georgia’s Governor’s race. As a result of her primary victory, Abrams will be on the ballot in November against the winner of the GOP runoff election. If elected, Stacey Abrams will be the first African-American women in history to serve as Governor in the United States and would be the first Democrat Governor of Georgia since 2003. However, most of the media focus hasn’t been on the historical precedent set by Abram’s nomination but rather the groundbreaking campaign tactics used by the Abrams Campaign. Almost immediately after Donald Trump was elected President the Democratic agenda became clear; to win back influence through the midterm elections. This goal of winning the majority of the open and contested seats in November initially seemed reasonable. It is common for the opposite party of the President to be propelled to victory solely because of the president's low approval rating (during the middle of their first term). Although now it appears that the “Blue Wave” may not come in with the force anticipated. Even with increased enthusiasm and turnout among Democrats in the Texas and Florida primaries, there is still a considerable (and larger) voter base for Republican candidates. 

This struggle to find a way to bridge the significant gap in party participation has been an area of interests for the Democratic Party since the last presidential election. The Governor's race in Georgia has served as a perfect way for Democrats to test two possible solutions to the extreme voter turnout difference. The first proposed solution was utilized by Abram’s primary opponent, Stacey Evans. Throughout her campaign, Evans attempted to mobilize the sizable population of Georgia Democrats who voted for Trump. Through highlighting her centrist policies and efforts to protect the state’s low-income workers and students Stacey Evans painted herself as a champion of the middle and lower class. The campaign strategy for Evans was simple; return to the forgotten members of the Democratic Party and acknowledge their priorities (increased subsidies, more scholarship grants, etc.). While on the other hand Stacey Abrams’ approach to assembling Democratic Voters, consisted of her focusing on the untapped black and minority population that has so long been the core of the Democratic Party. As of 2016 approximately 21% of the Democratic/Democratic-leaning voters are Black and around 43% are nonwhite (Pew Research Institute). But within recent years as the number of minority democrats has increased the number of white candidates has remained unchanged. To fix this misrepresentation of minorities in Georgia, Abrams focused specifically on what she could do for the substantial black population if elected Governor. It is often that the minority voters in states are pandered to especially among Democratic Candidates, but often the politicians who do so are too far removed from their day-to-day life and concerns to motivate minorities to vote. Through paying specific attention to this “untapped” demographic of Democratic Voters the Abrams Campaign was successfully able to win the primary and garner around 420,000 votes, the highest among any candidate in both the Republican and Democratic Primaries (New York Times). All things considered, it is clear that Abrams’ victory will show the Democratic Party that they have to move on and focus on their new age voters and cannot fight to get the voters they are never getting back as the Democratic Party has changed.

Sources:

http://www.people-press.org/2016/09/13/1-the-changing-composition-of-the-political-parties/ 

https://staceyabrams.com/meet-stacey/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/22/us/elections/results-georgia-primary-elections.html