One of the major reasons why Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia were defeated by Democratic challengers in the runoff election on Tuesday was lackluster voter turnout in reliably red counties.
In all seven counties in Northwest Georgia, which lean Republican, voter turnout dropped significantly between the November general election and Tuesday’s runoff.
Democratic strongholds also saw a drop in turnout, typical for a runoff election compared to a general election, but they did not lose near as many voters as the GOP-leaning counties.
In Walker County, 29,341 voted in November, compared to 24,175 this month. In Chattooga County, 10,041 people voted in November and 8,245 in January. That’s a more than 17% drop in turnout for each. Turnout was down over 15% in Gordon and Murray counties and down 14% in Catoosa and Dade counties.
In Whitfield County, where over a third of the population is Hispanic (in Dalton that number is nearly 50%), voter turnout still took a dip (13.6%) but was the smallest dip of the seven counties. Whitfield County voted for the two Democratic candidates at a higher rate than any other county in the region.