About Dunwoody reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 20??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2020)
DECEMBER 2020 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net Community | 19 “I came away thinking, ‘This guy — I could almost vote for this guy,’” Davis said with a laugh. Among the topics was Biden’s own brief past as a Republican. “He was so engaging. He’s a natural politician.” Local political fallout Trump’s divisive manner, on the other hand, likely cost him votes in Atlanta’s increasing blue northern suburbs, and that can be bad for political diversity, Da vis said. “There are a lot of people in Brookhaven who aren’t necessarily blue, but Trump, his personality may have turned them off... They just couldn’t conscience voting for Trump,” he said. “It was a personality referendum, in my mind, not necessarily an ideological referendum.” He believes one of the casualties was Nancy Jester, a Dunwoody Republican who lost her District 1 seat on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners to Democrat Robert Patrick. The board will be all Democrats. “That fact that Nancy Jester lost, to me, is a tragedy.... That hurts me just about more than anything else,” said Davis, calling her a “watchdog.” “I wouldn’t think the Georgia Legislature would be good if it was... all one party. I wouldn’t want that if I could,” said Davis. “You always learn something from the other side of the aisle, whether you agree with it or not.... There’s always somebody who has an intelligent counterpoint... and when you don’t have that check in there, I just think that leads to corruption and it leads to bubble thinking, and we do not need that in DeKalb County.” For Habif and her 1,500-member Democratic group, the election showed the pow er to sway local voters in longtime Republic strongholds. Democrats did not flip many seats this time — but they already did two years ago in local Congressional and General Assembly races and retained them this time. But in Buckhead and San dy Springs’ House District 52, Republican incumbent Deborah Silcox lost by under 400 votes to Democratic challenger Shea Roberts. Habif said that race shows San dy Springs politics continue to change and that it could affect the city’s municipal elections in 2021. “This organization was always about local change,” Habif said of her Democratic women’s group. “But at no point did we ever believe that what we did locally would have a national impact. And when we look at not what happened in the country but what happened in Georgia ... think about the power of one. When the vote gets that close, it’s the power of one. And when many ones come together, that’s about the power of us. CITY HOMES • INDEPENDENT LIVING • ASSISTED LIVING • MEMORY CARE No® Leasing CORSO 404.891.9190 West Paces Ferry & Northside Drive S U LU m jg !i ( « C
