With imposing billboards and yard signs plastered around Atlanta, all of us can feel the pressure surrounding the midterm election — and for good reason. Whether it’s health insurance or reproductive rights, countless critical aspects of our lives and bodies will be on the ballot this midterm election season.
This summer was a time of significant fear and anguish. The overturning of Roe v. Wade led to devastation, panic and terrifying legislation being proposed in state senates all over the country. Unfortunately, one of those states is Georgia, a place we have all chosen to call home for at least four years. These policies, among others like SB 202, which limits voting rights access, are dire threats to our freedoms put forward by Georgia’s Republican legislature. Under these laws, actions as simple as protecting mothers who are doomed to die without treatment or political organizations passing out water to people waiting in line to vote are criminalized.
We cannot keep taking these critical steps back and paying the price of others’ disregard for our rights. We have a major chance to affect change— not just in terms of access to reproductive rights, but in terms of all of our freedoms. Democracy is on the line, and our only solution is to vote blue up and down the ballot in the upcoming election.
In 2020, Georgia was the key to numerous Democratic victories. Emory students played a critical role in ensuring that President Joe Biden and Senators Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) won their races. All of the tremendous policy progress that has occurred since, in addition to the sense of decency that has been restored in the White House, is because of unprecedented civic engagement from individuals that are part of a community much like our own. Young voters especially turned out in unprecedented numbers in 2020. It’s now our responsibility to ensure that we turn out again.
The Biden administration oversaw the comprehensive rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination in tandem with aid from the American Rescue Plan to lead us out of the pandemic. Furthermore, this administration has made it clear that it represents all Americans. Whether through the nomination of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court or through appointing the most diverse cabinet in American history, Democrats are bringing diverse perspectives to the table so that everyone is part of the change-making in D.C.
At the same time, Democrats in Congress ushered in transformative policies ranging from bipartisan gun reform to a massive investment in the nation’s infrastructure. Ossoff passed critical solar energy and jobs legislation to strengthen energy independence, create American jobs and accelerate the transition to renewable power. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is unequivocally the biggest climate victory in decades, only made possible by Ossoff and Warnock’s presence in the Senate. Even here in Georgia, we know Democrats like gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have fought for everyday Georgians in both the state legislature and organizations like Fair Fight, which registered over 800,000 Georgians to vote between 2018 and 2020.
Though the country continues to face global macroeconomic pressures from COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine in the form of rising gas prices, supply chain disruption and inflation, Democrats have taken actions to protect people and businesses through using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce gas prices, reducing the deficit through the IRA and boosting domestic manufacturing. We ask, what is the Republican solution to any of these issues? Fear-mongering takes the place of concrete solutions and an action plan for many Republicans, showing where conservative priorities truly lie.
Democrats, in just a short span of two years, have shaped federal policy to great effect. Emory students were at the forefront of making this change happen, because we turned out in 2020. That is why it is absolutely essential that we vote again, so we can see that progress right here in Georgia, and prevent Republicans from moving us backward and continuing to suppress our freedoms.
Republicans' current infatuation with alt-right, anti-democratic rhetoric dangers American institutional health. Americans have seen how, especially over the past two years, Republicans have fought culture wars to no avail. While Biden fought to deliver college debt relief to Americans, Republicans accused him of catering to elites despite the fact that 74% of those who qualify to receive forgiveness funds have an annual household income of $82,000 a year or below — these families represent the lower 60% of wage earners in America. Republicans’ futile culture war creates roadblocks for Congress to codify the right to abortion into law; we cannot have a party in powers that cheers as human rights are stripped away.
Conservatives at every level have rallied against “wokeness” instead of fighting to deliver the critical infrastructure, health care and climate change gains that Democrats have fought hard to champion over the past two years. Republicans know how to stoke division and prioritize partisanship over progress, but their priorities do not lie with the American people. The GOP instead prioritizes election denialism, curbing of civil liberties and misinformation and continuously seeks out opportunities to stand in the way of progress. This is not what America deserves.
Democrats are poised to continue delivering victories for the American people. If we expand our control of Congress, Biden pledged that the first bill he will send to Congress next year will be one to codify reproductive rights. Crucial legislation to protect our democracy, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, in addition to codifying gay marriage rights will also be slated to pass if Democrats succeed in November. With just a few more votes in the Senate, Democrats would also have the opportunity to reintroduce crucial measures from the Build Back Better Act. These provisions, relating to climate, health care, education and more, would increase financial security for American households and lessen the significant health and economic impacts of environmental degradation. Democratic nominees up and down the ballot are prepared to effect the important change voters want to see. These candidates range from stalwart voting rights advocates like Abrams and Georgia Secretary of State candidate Bee Nguyen to change makers on public health and gun reform like U.S. House Representative Lucy McBath. With our votes building stable majorities in Congress, they will be able to do so unimpeded by Republican deception or lone wolf detractors.
Despite the systemic problems we face, each one of us has the power to create the better future we deserve. Major state and nationwide races in Georgia in recent years have been decided by small margins, with tens of thousands of voters often making the difference. We, as Emory students, are members of the Georgia electorate, and by making our voices heard, we can make crucial victories possible. This is why we vote blue.
The Young Democrats of Emory are the Democratic-affiliated political organization dedicated to civic engagement, social justice and progressive activism on Emory’s campus.
This op-ed was written by the following members of the Young Democrats executive board, but represents the beliefs of the entire executive board: Ash Shankar (23B), Divya Kishore (23C), Carly Colen (23C), Dani Parra del Riego Valencia (25B) and Jack Miklaucic (23C).
If you would like to learn more about the midterm election and the ways in which you can make a difference, feel free to reach out to us on Instagram @theemorydems or at ameenak@emory.edu. Though this piece does not speak on the views of the following organizations, the Young Democrats of Emory would like to recognize the members of the Emory Students Vote Coalition for working hard to ensure Emory turns out the vote— as of Oct. 23, 2022: Fair Fight Emory, NAACP Emory Chapter, APIDAA, Emory Climate Coalition, the Mu Alpha Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the Omicron Xi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Emory Planned Parenthood, Black Student Association and Emory’s Filipino Student Association.
