{"id":7667,"date":"2016-11-27T19:10:38","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T00:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/?p=7667"},"modified":"2016-11-27T19:12:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T00:12:20","slug":"officials-georgia-gop-needs-to-reach-beyond-white-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/27\/officials-georgia-gop-needs-to-reach-beyond-white-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials: Georgia GOP needs to reach beyond white voters – Translation: More closely obey the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and be more like the Democrats…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reporter Newspapers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Posted by Dyana Bagby on November 27, 2016.Officials:
\nOfficials: Georgia GOP needs to reach beyond white voters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Georgia Republicans should broaden their party\u2019s appeal to Latinos<\/a>, Asians and African Americans if they want to retain control of the governor\u2019s mansion and the Legislature in the future, local political experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to reach out and work with people who aren\u2019t Caucasian. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d said state Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody). \u201cWe need to have a message that resonates with these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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State Sen. Fran Millar<\/p>\n

Millar was re-elected Nov. 8 to a third term representing District 40, which covers portions of DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties. Although traditionally a Republican stronghold, the district\u2019s demographics have changed dramatically in recent years as members of minority groups and transplants have moved to the suburbs.<\/p>\n

Millar\u2019s opponent, Tamara Johnson-Shealey, a Peachtree Corners Democrat who ran on a platform that included protecting voter rights and being supportive of immigrants, received 44 percent of the vote \u2014 two more points than she received when she ran against Millar two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she didn\u2019t do anything. She ran a Facebook campaign and got 44 percent of the vote. That is an area of concern for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Hunter Hill (R-Smyrna), whose district includes parts of Sandy Springs and Buckhead, won his re-election with only 52 percent of the vote over Democrat and political newcomer, community activist and pediatric dentist Jaha Howard.<\/p>\n

And with Cobb and Gwinnett counties voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race, Millar said state Republicans can no longer \u201ctake things for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is maybe a wake-up call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Republicans did score a victory in House District 80, which includes Brookhaven and a slice of Sandy Springs, with Meagan Hanson defeating incumbent state Rep. Taylor Bennett by fewer than 300 of the 24,486 votes cast.<\/p>\n

Joseph Knippenberg, a professor of politics at Brookhaven\u2019s Oglethorpe University, said while Democrats like to claim HD 80 is a swing district, \u201cit\u2019s basically a Republican district\u201d where \u201ca generic Republican beats a generic Democrat for the time being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knippenberg said Hill\u2019s \u201cnear-death experience\u201d is due to the rapidly changing demographics of his district and that some Republicans, such as Hill and Millar, can no longer waltz into office and will have to \u201cbreak a sweat\u201d in upcoming races and also reach out to minorities.<\/p>\n

Millar, who voted for Trump, said the contentious president-elect might have played a role in hurting some local Republican candidates in the metro Atlanta suburbs, such as in Cobb and Gwinnett.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, [voting for Trump] was about capitalism and the Supreme Court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Millar denied criticisms that Trump ran a racist and anti-Semitic campaign and said \u201che\u2019s not going to deport 10 million\u201d undocumented immigrants like he promised throughout his campaign. Instead, Millar said he believes Trump and his administration will focus on health care, education, lowering taxes and transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the things that are important to everyone, you have to offer a solution,\u201d Millar said.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Tom Taylor (R-Dunwoody) ran unopposed in District 79, which includes portions of Chamblee and Doraville, cities known for their ethnic and racial diversity and immigrant populations. He agreed with Millar that this election might indeed be a wake-up call for state Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorgia\u2019s population is becoming more urbanized,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a large influx of immigrants from the Olympics who have now become citizens. We\u2019ve got a lot corporations relocating here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than focusing on rural, mostly white constituents, Republicans will need to be more welcoming of being labeled \u201cfiscal conservatives but social moderates,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

Knippenberg said the state GOP may have to rein in rural lawmakers who might feel emboldened by a Trump presidency to continue to push for controversial socially conservative policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans who have won in metro Atlanta need to figure out a way to persuade rural Republicans to not hang issues on them that will hurt them,\u201d he said. An example is the Religious Restoration Freedom Act, vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal last year, and heavily supported by Republicans living outside Atlanta\u2019s blue bubble.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the party is not competitive in metro Atlanta, it is not going to win the governor\u2019s seat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The national Anti-Defamation League, with a Southeastern office in Atlanta, is tracking upticks of hate crimes across the country in the wake of Trump\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

It condemned the appointment of Steve Bannon, former Breitbart News executive, CEO of Trump\u2019s presidential campaign and now the White House chief strategist, warning of Bannon\u2019s support of the alt-right movement, a \u201cloose network of white nationalists and anti-Semites.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Schaefer, director of Policy and Advocacy for the Latin American Association, which has an outreach center on Buford Highway in Brookhaven, said his organization still is analyzing Trump\u2019s transition and his cabinet picks.<\/p>\n

\u201c[W]e are responding in ways that will address the concerns of the community,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cWe are working with the Mexican Consulate [located on Chantilly Drive, just across I-85 from Brookhaven and Buckhead] to hold a series of community informational forums in the upcoming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locally, two Cross Keys High School teachers recently were suspended after they were accused of making deportation threats to some students; Cross Keys is known for its many Latino students.<\/p>\n

Taylor said in a recent interview he voted for Trump but knew nothing of Bannon. \u201cI had never heard of him \u2026 I know no history of this guy,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of rhetoric out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He asked people to \u201cgive everyone a chance\u201d and said change in government moves like an aircraft carrier, or, in other words, very slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to wait and see what happens,\u201d he said. \u00a0HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reporter Newspapers Posted by Dyana Bagby on November 27, 2016.Officials: Officials: Georgia GOP needs to reach beyond white voters Georgia Republicans should broaden their party\u2019s appeal to Latinos, Asians and African Americans if they want to retain control of the governor\u2019s mansion and the Legislature in the future, local political experts say. \u201cWe need to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7667"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7678,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions\/7678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}