A Democrat just picked up a Republican seat in Georgia—by running against anti-gay discrimination

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/12/1411411/-A-Democrat-just-picked-up-a-Republican-seat-in-Georgia-by-running-against-anti-gay-discrimination

Georgia's 80th State House District ought to be safely Republican. Mitt Romney carried it by a 56-43 margin, and in a special election, when Democratic turnout almost always suffers, the GOP shouldn't have had to flex a muscle to keep this seat in their hands.

But on Tuesday night, Democrat Taylor Bennett not only won, he crushed his Republican opponent, former Brookhaven Mayor Max Davis, by a 55-45 spread—despite getting outspent 2-to-1. And not only that, Bennett rode to victory by explicitly running on his opposition to a proposed "religious freedom restoration act," citing his mother and sister, both of whom are gay.

A big part of Bennett's victory was due to the district: Though it's heavily Republican, it's located in Atlanta's wealthy northern suburbs, the kind of place where anti-gay attitudes are very much out of fashion. In fact, the lawmaker that Bennett will succeed, Mike Jacobs, actually torpedoed the last version of RFRA that went before the legislature by amending the bill to include an anti-discrimination clause—and Jacobs is a Republican. (He was later appointed to a judgeship, prompting this special election.)

RFRA wasn't the whole story: Bennett, an employment lawyer, also enjoyed some minor celebrity status as a former star quarterback at Georgia Tech. And then there was the matter of sexual harassment allegations against Davis, who was accused of "spraying a women's buttocks with an aerosol can filled with air freshener," then allegedly threatening to fire that same woman (a city employee).

Bennett's win isn't only a victory for gay rights. Georgia Democrats are still deep in the minority in the state legislature, but now they have 61 seats in the 180-member state House, which means that Republicans can no longer achieve super-majorities on their own. As a result, the GOP should have a much harder time advancing any amendments to the state constitution.

[Betty Karlson]

1. Georgia is coming into play at the federal level. n/t

[napi21]

5. I WISH I could agree wish I could agree with you, but

I'm just not seeing it.

[Betty Karlson]

7. Percentually, it is the lowest hanging fruit after North-Carolina and Indiana.

And as a growing state, Georgia is susceptibel to the "millennials' shift" - which would make it more flexible than Wisconsin or Pennsylvania.

[napi21]

8. I sure hope you're right. I will keep voting for the Dems (when any run!)

We moved to Ga. in 2000 and I keep hoping that enough Yankees will move here to changer the majority to Dem, but it doesn't seem to be happening...at least not enough to make a change. I really hope you're right and it just hasn't happened neat where I live.

[Betty Karlson]

9. Atlanta has already turned into a Democratic bulwark. Do you live far away from Atlanta? n/t

[napi21]

10. About 50 miles norh of Atlanta, near Gainesville, Ga.

I KNOW Atlanta is fairly Dem, along with Athens, but there's sure none close to me. My son works for Delta as a mech. He's told me many times over the 25 years he's worked there that there are NO DEMS that he's ever met there, and they employ THOUUSANDS of people in Atlanta. Hell, they listen to Rushbo on their radio at work.

[Jamastiene]

2. A Democrat who ran openly supporting gay rights won?

Who knew?

A lot of us have been saying for years that the Truman quote is absolutely true. Democrats who run by trying to be more like Republicans lose far more often than they win. It is a losing strategy.

I'm glad he won. Props to him for standing up for gay rights.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. You mean he didn't move to

the 'center' to get the independent votes? That's the only way a Democrat can win, you know, especially in the South.

[Jamastiene]

4. That's what they always tell us...

then we lose using that strategy time and time again. It is so refreshing seeing a Democrat run as a Democrat.

[MisterP]

6. but he promised to beat on someone else, right? otherwise our whole model is a sham!

[KentuckyWoman]

11. Its the demographics of the district.

The 80th district looks like it's East Atlanta. My sister always said that part of the city is wealthier with a lot of same sex households.

So it could just be the district.