As a businessperson, analysis of facts and figures is second nature. I firmly believe that during the 2020 General and 2021 Senate Runoff elections in Georgia — in which I was a candidate — conservatives were swimming against the tide.
From a global pandemic to sweeping changes in our election rules to voting irregularities and a lack of oversight, these cumulative factors contributed to a perfect storm. Equally as important, the fact is that for years, the Democrats — under Stacey Abrams — had amassed a voter registration and engagement machine for which there was no equivalent answer on the conservative side. These progressive organizations, bankrolled by out-of-state liberal activists and dark money donors, held an unchecked monopoly on voter outreach in our state — mobilizing new voters and closing the gap to push Georgia into battleground status.
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
That’s why — after a thorough post-election analysis of all of these factors — we took action, launching Greater Georgia in February. As a conservative voter mobilization organization focused on registering new voters, engaging diverse and underrepresented communities, and defending election integrity in our state, Greater Georgia’s mission is to register, empower our citizens to use their vote to shape the future of our state.
From the outset, we knew how challenging this work would be. There are no shortcuts to the effort required to build an operation to ensure more voices across our state are heard. There are well over 1 million unregistered residents across Georgia. There are more than 400,000 registered but inactive conservative voters who have not cast a ballot in the past two elections. And there were 339,000 conservative Georgians who voted in the November general election — but didn’t come back out to vote in the January 2021 runoffs.
The only way to start is with that first step, which we took in February — and just six months in, our work has already delivered results. We have registered thousands of new, conservative voters. We have engaged over 170,000 registered but inactive voters. We have reached over 700,000 Georgians to promote election integrity in our state. We have recruited over 200 volunteers, and held numerous roundtables, training sessions, and registration drives. Those results alone would be solid enough for the first six months of any start-up.
But the first true test for Greater Georgia came along in June in a special election for State House District 34 with the retirement of Rep. Bert Reeves. The seat, located in Democrat-leaning Cobb County, was a true toss-up — and a top target for Stacey Abrams, whose organization, Fair Fight, went all in to win the race, which included Abrams’ endorsement of the liberal candidate.
Beginning in April, Greater Georgia began organizing and building out a targeted engagement program hyper-focused on registering new voters within that district. We recruited volunteers and put boots on the ground, going door-to-door to educate citizens on the impact this seat would have on their freedoms, families and way of life. Along with our registration program, we executed a strategic plan to mobilize voters through text, telephone, direct mail, and paid digital advertising efforts.
When the final results of the runoff were tallied in the July 13th runoff election between conservative businessman Devan Seabaugh and liberal activist Priscilla Smith, the results were astounding. Not only did Seabaugh win convincingly, taking 63 percent of the vote compared to Smith’s 37 percent, he overperformed the 2020 race for the seat by a full 7 points. Based on our post-election analysis of multiple targeted voter contacts, Greater Georgia’s efforts directly contributed to 23 percent of the vote by engaging new, low-propensity and disenfranchised voters — putting a swing suburban seat, in the 3rd-most-populous county in our state, firmly back in the red column.
As conservatives look toward 2022, there is much work to be done. I firmly believe we are now building the organization and infrastructure needed to win across the state. If you aren’t satisfied with the direction of our country, want to protect freedom and opportunities for your families, or simply want to support fair, representative elections — I encourage you to join us in our efforts. Together, we will make Georgia greater for generations to come.
Businesswoman Kelly Loeffler is a former Georgia U.S. Senator.
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