December 30, 2020
Fair Fight works to promote fair elections. It’s that simple. Their work involves engaging voters and building GOTV efforts, educating them about their voting rights, and working with voters to support election reform.
Georgia’s voter maps have been showing quiet signs for several election cycles of new emerging Democratic majorities in the major cities in the state. At the same time, the state’s Republican establishment continued with “business as usual” running elections that were textbook examples of corruption, mismanagement, and above all, instance after instance of voter suppression. It became clear, especially to Stacey Abrams, that the only way to win elections in the state was to educate and mobilize voters. And that, in a nutshell, is what Fair Fight is all about.
From a legal perspective, Fair Fight is a “PAC with a Non-Contribution Account” which is also known as a Hybrid PAC. Fair Fight can accept contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations, and other political committees which are deposited into a segregated bank account for the purpose of funding – among other things – independent expenditure campaigns and generic voter drives pertaining to federal election candidates. One reason why Maryland NOW chose to contribute to Fair Fight was their focus, not on a particular candidate, but on working to counter voter suppression efforts so rampant in the state.
The stakes in the Special Run-Off Senate Election on January 5 couldn’t be higher. We say that a lot, but in this case it’s really literally true. The balance of power in the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance. If we lose even one of these seats, it’s at least two more years of Mitch McConnell with stalled efforts to overturn the chaos of the Trump Administration. For starters, they’ve already begun work to oppose Biden’s nominations for his administration’s cabinet positions. Or, with a 50-50 tie, the Democrats control the Senate with Vice President Harris on hand to break any tie necessary.
Experts have commented on the fact that it is notoriously difficult to get Georgia voters to return to the polls two months following a general election. Biden did not carry the state by a very substantial majority in November, and many voters who voted for him clearly did not vote Democratic in down-ballot races. This, specifically, is why Maryland NOW’s contribution to Fair Fight is so important. Getting out the vote is the whole story here and this is what Fair Fight is uniquely positioned to do.
Early voting is very high and of particular importance late in the campaign is the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider the Democratic bill from the U.S. House to create a $2,000 payment to people struggling with the economic effects of the pandemic. This will undoubtedly be an important late issue in this campaign.
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