Election deniers are a 'dark cloud' hanging over midterms Analyst

Yeah, Stephanie, I'm outside the early voting site because Mayor Bottoms and Senator Raphael Warnock are about to cast ballots and hold an event here in DeKalb County, which is the bluest county in Georgia, the most important county for Democrats to win.

They need not to win this by 80 percent.

They need to win this by high 80s, low 90s in order to win in November.

But early voting starts.

It's a huge, huge moment in Georgia politics.

It goes for three weeks and the campaigns are out there on the campaign trail.

We have our second day of debates, Atlanta Press Club debates, starting this afternoon, concluding with the second and final debate between Senator John Nassau and Congressman Mike Collins.

And as you saw last night, we had the last and latest of the, quote unquote, gubernatorial debates where Rick Jackson decided not to show up.

He told me earlier yesterday morning that.

No voters in Georgia on the campaign trail have been pestering him about showing up at the debates.

They've been bugging him about other issues.

So he says, I'm not going to do this for the media.

I'm going to do this for Georgia.

Does he have a point? I mean, down in Florida, David Jolly, a Democrat, he's not facing off against Byron Donalds in a debate.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, when we ask voters what their top concerns are, it's economy, it's public safety.

This is a chance.

These debates are a chance for the candidates to hear from voters themselves and from the media.

What about the top issues? And, of course, face questions from their rivals for the for what could be the only time.

So I think it's very valuable.

And many I think many other Georgia voters agree with me on that one.

OK, here's something that I think matters, Sam.

PBS is pointing out that Rick Jackson ran ads in the primary against the current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who, of course, certified the 2020 election.

Jackson likened Raffensperger to Judas, to Judas for his resistance to Trump's pressure to overturn the results.

Yeah, Stephanie, I'm outside the early voting site because Mayor Bottoms and Senator Raphael Warnock are about to cast ballots and hold an event here in DeKalb County, which is the bluest county in Georgia, the most important county for Democrats to win.

They need not to win this by 80 percent.

They need to win this by high 80s, low 90s in order to win in November.

But early voting starts.

It's a huge, huge moment in Georgia politics.

It goes for three weeks and the campaigns are out there on the campaign trail.

We have our second day of debates, Atlanta Press Club debates, starting this afternoon, concluding with the second and final debate between Senator John Nassau and Congressman Mike Collins.

And as you saw last night, we had the last and latest of the, quote unquote, gubernatorial debates where Rick Jackson decided not to show up.

He told me earlier yesterday morning that.

No voters in Georgia on the campaign trail have been pestering him about showing up at the debates.

They've been bugging him about other issues.

So he says, I'm not going to do this for the media.

I'm going to do this for Georgia.

Does he have a point? I mean, down in Florida, David Jolly, a Democrat, he's not facing off against Byron Donalds in a debate.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, when we ask voters what their top concerns are, it's economy, it's public safety.

This is a chance.

These debates are a chance for the candidates to hear from voters themselves and from the media.

What about the top issues? And, of course, face questions from their rivals for the for what could be the only time.

So I think it's very valuable.

And many I think many other Georgia voters agree with me on that one.

OK, here's something that I think matters, Sam.

PBS is pointing out that Rick Jackson ran ads in the primary against the current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who, of course, certified the 2020 election.

Jackson likened Raffensperger to Judas, to Judas for his resistance to Trump's pressure to overturn the results.