More Democrats call for Georgia party leader's ouster after Trump's win

Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Nov 8, 2024

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ATLANTA — The backlash against the Democratic Party of Georgia’s election strategy grew Friday as roughly two dozen legislative candidates from mostly rural parts of the state called for the party’s chair to “resign her position with grace and dignity” after Donald Trump’s presidential win.

The letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution largely echoed criticism of U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams that surfaced earlier this week from a group of party officials, grass-roots organizers and donors who called for her to step aside.

The candidates said Georgia Democrats “ran true statewide campaigns focused on turning out voters in every part of our state” to propel Joe Biden’s slim 2020 victory and U.S. Senate victories by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in 2021 and 2022.

“The truth is in 2024, the Democratic Party of Georgia failed to do that,” the letter states, “and we lost.”

Georgia was among a sweep of battleground states that fell to Trump on Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, gained roughly 70,000 more votes than Biden did in Georgia four years ago. But Trump captured roughly 200,000 more ballots as more than 130 counties shifted toward the GOP.

Democrats struggled down the ballot, too, as most vulnerable GOP incumbents in competitive legislative districts held their seats in a challenging election environment.

Williams was first elected to chair the party in 2019 and won another four-year term in 2023. She has pointed to the “historic victories” while she was chair, including the 2020 campaign when Georgia voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in nearly three decades.

“We’ve made tremendous strides. Do we still have more work to do? Absolutely. Are there things that we should have done differently? Absolutely,” Williams said. “But we are continuing to move the needle forward.”

Williams’ supporters, including Vice Chair Matthew Wilson, said her unique position as an up-and-coming Democratic leader in the U.S. House and head of the state party helps bring more attention and resources to Georgia.

“We have a stronger state party because she brings those things to the table,” Wilson said.

But the critics, who grumbled privately throughout the campaign and went public after Tuesday’s defeat, said Williams’ dual roles are a recipe for distraction.

“The reality is that being in the U.S. House of Representatives is a full-time job, requiring the Member of Congress to spend countless hours in their district and in Washington,” the letter states. “There is simply no time to lead a battleground state party.”