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Typically state legislative races only make headlines in local papers.  After all, there will be 236 of them on the ballot next year between the House and Senate.  But this year political observers on both sides of the aisle will be laser focused on the September 23rd special election runoff in Senate District 21 to succeed the Washington D.C.-bound Brandon Beach.

But why would Democrats pay much mind to a ruby red district in North Fulton and Cherokee counties that Beach won by 40 points in 2024?

In the August 26th jungle primary, Democrat Deborah Shigley actually took first place, with 40% of the vote.  Her five GOP opponents split the rest of the pie, with Jason Dickerson advancing to the runoff by the slimmest of margins.  While it remains unlikely that Shigley could flip the seat entirely, Democrats are looking to make a statement in the runoff, where a strong showing could show public opinion cooling on President Donald Trump’s second term and argue the political winds are suddenly blowing to the left ahead of next year’s midterms.

And Dems wouldn’t need an outright win to crow – Shigley’s 40% in the first round of voting was a 10 point jump over Beach’s 2024 romp, and picking up any percentage points beyond that would be a major shift in a typically dark red district.

With early voting starting Saturday, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff hit the campaign trail for Shigley over the weekend, slamming recent cuts to Medicaid as the reason that Lavonia-based St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital was moving all labor and delivery services to its Athens branch.

“You know we talk about these things in theory. This is real,” Ossoff said. “This is a hospital here in Georgia that is no longer going to be able to provide services to delivering mothers and newborn babies because of that terrible bill that they passed in Congress.”

Democrats continued to apply pressure on Monday.

“Georgia Republicans are worried by Democrats’ massive overperformance in deep-red Senate District 21 – and they should be,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey.  “While they’re trying and failing to defend their toxic agenda of sky-high costs, economic chaos, and health care cuts, Georgia Democrats are unifying voters and building undeniable momentum that we’ll carry into this November’s election and next year.”

The Republican response to last month’s election results has been mixed.

“This is an election taking place in the dead of summer,” said Josh McKoon, Georgia GOP chair shortly after the August election. “People are returning from summer vacation. People don’t know there’s an election. They’re not used to voting at this time of year.”

After advancing to the runoff Dickerson got some immediate backup from U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, who encouraged Republicans to get out the vote.  “It’s really important that we don’t lose this seat,” the congressman said in a video with Dickerson posted to social media. “Your vote really matters.”

Meanwhile other GOP officials have sounded alarms.  On Sunday’s Georgia Gang Republican strategist Brian Robinson declared, “The ten-point swing is concerning to me, I’m not going to joke about that… Republicans need to be on guard for this.”

Conservative radio host Shelley Wynter told listeners, “I want my Republican listeners to hear….that Democrats are motivated”, while his guest analyst added that “all my Democratic friends are out knocking doors for her [Debra].”