Democrats Take Full Control

In the aftermath of Joe Biden’s historic win in the 2020 General Election, all eyes were on Georgia. Two unprecedented runoff Elections would decide control of the US Senate, giving the Democrats their first shot at a government trifecta since 2008. In the wake of Trump’s loss, the Republican party was hamstrung by conspiracy theories, chaos, and incompetence, leaving them frozen and unable to focus their efforts on the January runoffs. This left Democrats with the opportunity to pull off something that had never been done before.

In partnership with leadership at the DSCC, Field Strategies designed and implemented a dynamic field program in DeKalb and Fulton counties to keep voters engaged and turn them out during Early Voting and on Election Day.

Field Strategies deployed nine teams of organizers to set up canvass operations throughout both targeted counties before Thanksgiving.  All canvass stagings were done outdoors, with adequate PPE and strict social distancing in order to keep everyone safe despite the surge of reported Covid-19 cases in the region.

In order to maintain the integrity of the program despite the limitations of the strict Covid-19 protocols, the team developed a robust accountability program that monitored every canvasser in real time, and provided immediate feedback to the team in the field.

The initial phase of the program encouraged voters to apply and return their absentee ballots by mail.  As early voting began, the team pivoted to turning out voters to their early vote location.

Voter turnout in January Runoff shattered records, and would have been the highest in Georgia history if not for the astounding level of participation in the General Election.  Early investment in our program from leadership at the DSCC directly resulted in huge progressive momentum going into Early Voting.  Turnout on the first day was 30% higher than in the historic 2020 General Election.

Field Strategies’ target counties, DeKalb and Fulton, respectively saw the first and third-lowest drop-off in turnout in the Metro-Atlanta region.  Additionally, over 80,000 black voters voted in the runoff who skipped the November election, 30% of which came from DeKalb and Fulton counties.