Let Raphael Warnock be clear: Just because he won 'doesn’t mean that voter suppression does not exist'

In a not-really-very-shocking-at-all turn of events, incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated his Republican challenger Herschel Walker in yesterday’s runoff election in Georgia. Warnock is a pretty terrible candidate, but the odds were pretty stacked against Walker, who, like Warnock, has — shall we say? — some baggage. It wasn’t necessarily that conservative/Republican voters love Warnock; they just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Walker.

Georgia is a great example of the difference candidate quality makes:

Governor: R+8
Lt. Governor: R+5
Sec. of State: R+9
Attorney General: R+5
Ag. Commissioner: R+8
In. Commissioner: R+8
State School Superintendent: R+8
Commissioner of Labor: R+7

Senate: On track for D+2-4

— Ryan Matsumoto (@ryanmatsumoto1) December 7, 2022

Anyway, the Warnock-vs.-Walker race should make it pretty clear to everyone once and for all that all that BS about “voter suppression laws” in Georgia was just that: BS.

All the companies that joined the twitter mob saying Georgia's election law was "voter suppression" have gotten shockingly quiet now that the November election proved that was wrong.

Would love to see ANY company acknowledge that they were misled by Democrats. https://t.co/cMDM9b4J0s

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) December 5, 2022

An indefensibly shameful campaign. You had the President of the United States and leading Democrats comparing a law that indisputably expanded voter access relative to pre-pandemic elections to Jim Crow and comparing supporters of that law to segregationists. https://t.co/1iOSC6R7yH

— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 6, 2022

Anyone who took even 2 seconds to look at the provisions at the time would acknowledge the law was expanding voter access even beyond many blue states.

The MLB and others buying into the false narrative could only have occurred with the media abetting the false narrative.

— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 6, 2022

That is the problem

They lied. It has been proven they lied. Their lies hurt people, hurt businesses.

They don't care. They view this as a win. They don't have any shame about this. They see deception and cruelty as unabashedly good. https://t.co/3pvbM6huHv

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) December 6, 2022

During the Disney vs Florida fight, people pointed to the attacks on the Georgia voting law as a positive and successful example of activism

Even though that activism didn't actually change anything. The goal wasn't policy change. The goal was to hurt people.

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) December 6, 2022

The goal was to hurt people. And to trick people. And it worked, and it’s still working. Or at least that’s what Warnock is counting on:

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA): “Just because people endured long lines … the rain, and the cold, and all kinds of tricks in order to vote doesn’t mean that voter suppression does not exist. It simply means that you, the people, have decided that your voices will not be silenced.” pic.twitter.com/O0AlgsG7pJ

— The Recount (@therecount) December 7, 2022

Oh.

We can now add *weather to the list of voter suppression tricks. https://t.co/RtG1lZ6OjM

— Steve (@UberSteve) December 7, 2022

There must be hundreds of thousands of people in GA who we barred from voting. Can we meet some of them?Why won't journalists interview them so we can hear how it happend? https://t.co/36s7B0fShv

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) December 7, 2022

Can’t interview people who don’t exist.

If Warnock had lost, would he have blamed voter suppression? https://t.co/FwjPt7Dnrh

— Eric Cunningham (@decunningham2) December 7, 2022

Without a doubt.

This guy just can't accept the fact that he won fair and square. https://t.co/LbJlrZS0OQ

— Phineas (@mad_dog1028) December 7, 2022

So record high turn out means that "voter suppression" was overcome instead of just not being a thing? K. https://t.co/moURcNnm2C

— Thick Nash (@andr3th3g1ant) December 7, 2022