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Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Monday, November 12, 2018
Fla., Ga. testing strength of new Dem coalition
STEVE CANNON I Associated Press
Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor, speaks at a news
conference on Saturday, Nov. 10, in Tallahassee, Fla. Gillum has withdrawn
his concession in the Florida gubernatorial race following a recount.
“I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and
unapologetic call that we count every single vote,” Gillum said.
BY STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press
NEW YORK — For much of the
country, the 2018 midterm season is
over. But unresolved races for gov
ernor in Georgia and Florida are
raising major strategic questions for
Democrats as they turn their atten
tion to the upcoming battle for the
White House.
As in other states, Democrats in
Florida and Georgia drew record
turnout in last week’s election. The
coalition of suburban women, young
people and minorities delivered the
House to Democrats for the first
time in nearly a decade.
But it wasn’t enough to score deci
sive victories in the closely watched
races for governor in Georgia and
Florida, where fresh-faced African-
American Democratic candidates
for governor trailed their older,
white Republican competitors.
In Georgia, Stacey Abrams hasn’t
conceded her race while Andrew
Gillum’s contest in Florida is under
going a recount.
For some Democrats, the les
son emerging from the 2018 mid
terms is that massive turnout can
win suburban House races across
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
California. But the coalition that
produced some success elsewhere
may not be enough in Florida, the
nation’s premier presidential battle
ground state, and Georgia, a state
Democrats view with increasing
optimism.
“It’s not a viable long-term plan to
constantly rely on record turnout,”
said Democratic strategist Steve
Schale, who led former President
Barack Obama’s efforts in Florida.
“We have a national issue we have
to deal with.”
While Gillum and Abrams have
much in common, they ran on dif
ferent messages.
Gillum, the 39-year-old mayor
of Florida’s capital city, ran as
an unapologetic member of the
Trump resistance. He openly called
for President Donald Trump’s
impeachment. And he accused his
Republican opponent, former Rep.
Ron DeSantis, of blatant racism.
Abrams, the 44-year-old minority
leader in Georgia’s House of Repre
sentative, highlighted her biparti
san credentials throughout her bid
for governor. While she and Gillum
embraced liberal policy priorities,
such as “Medicare for All,” she pro
moted her work with Republicans
in the state legislature, even high
lighting a handshake with GOP Gov.
Nathan Deal in a campaign ad.
Still, both were viewed as rising
stars within the evolving Demo
cratic Party, a new generation of
Democratic leadership that could
expand the party’s appeal among all
voters.
Racial divisions appear to have
limited their appeal, however.
Both Gillum and Abrams won
African-Americans and young vot
ers by overwhelming margins. But
they struggled with older, white
voters, particularly noncollege-edu-
cated white voters, who make up the
core of Trump’s political base.
Gillum won 92 percent of black
voters, according to VoteCast, a
wide-ranging survey of the elector
ate conducted by The Associated
Press. He also won 60 percent of vot
ers 18 to 29 years old, and 54 percent
of women.
But Gillum earned just 44 percent
of the male vote. And he won only 39
percent of the overall white vote —
and 35 percent among noncollege-
educated white voters.
It was worse for Abrams, who was
poised to become the nation’s first
African-American female governor.
She won 94 percent of Georgia’s
black vote, but just 25 percent of
white voters. She carried 56 percent
of women, but just 40 percent of
men. A dismal 19 percent of noncol-
lege-educated white men supported
her, according to VoteCast.
Nationwide, 43 percent of white
voters backed Democrats, including
38 percent of noncollege-educated
whites.
The results “absolutely” demon
strated black candidates like Gil
lum and Abrams have a harder time
winning in the Trump era, NAACP
President Derrick Johnson told the
AP.
“What the president has done
is played to the lowest common
denominator and created a culture
of intolerance and racial hatred,”
Johnson said. “You build up nega
tive energy based on fear to a point
where there are segments of the
population who are reacting to fear
and not pure policy considerations.”
Leading Democratic pollster
Stan Greenberg agreed that racism
likely shaped the elections.
“This was a big election in which
the president used immigration to
send a kind of racist message about
the need to stand up whites against
the invasion,” Greenberg said of
Trump’s final-days focus on a cara
van of Latin American immigrants
heading to the U.S. border to seek
asylum.
Trump and his allies took “every
opportunity,” he continued, “to
attack black politicians and athletes
and others. It’s not subtle in terms of
what they’ve done. ”
RUNOFF
■ Continued from 1A
Jim Boff and District 3 Commissioner
Todd Levent opposed, to approve two
zoning amendment requests tied to the
course.
The approval cleared the way for a
321-unit residential development on the
golf course, which had been an issue in
the community for more than a decade
and has resulted in multiple lawsuits.
In March 2017, after Semanson
replaced Boff as commissioner, the
board voted 4-1, with Semanson opposed,
to rezone an additional four parcels sur
rounded by the golf course from agricul
ture district to master planned district.
Prior to approval, Semanson made a
motion to deny the zoning but did not
receive a second.
That site plan included 71 townhomes,
155 single-family detached houses and 95
single-family residential units.
In 2007, commissioners denied rezon
ing the property from agriculture to mas
ter planned district. None of the current
commissioners were on the board at that
time.
Following a successful lawsuit by
owners, the property was court-ordered
rezoned in 2011, with Boff and Levent
opposed. Only Levent and District 1 Com
missioner Pete Amos were on the board
at that time.
That decision rezoned the 172-acre
golf course from agriculture district to
master planned district on 93.8 acres off
Buford Dam Road and 78.6 acres to sin
gle-family residential Res-2 district south
of the intersection of Fairway Drive and
Fairway Lane.
Neighbors filed another lawsuit in
2007. They felt there was an “implied
covenant” not to build on the property.
The lawsuit was dropped in 2012 after
the Georgia Supreme Court declined to
hear the case. Golf course owners sought
and won attorney’s fees for the suit in
2013.
KELLY WHITMIRE I Forsyth County News
Construction crews work at the former Lanier Golf Club in Forsyth County.
KENNETH HUCKS I The Times
The Lanierland Amateur Radio Club offered the use of ham radios Sunday, Nov. 11, at
Clermont City Park in honor of Veterans Day.
HAM
■ Continued from 1A
minister, so we asked him
to lead us in prayer, then we
pledged the flag. We found
out how many veterans we
had, and one of the fellas
went around and thanked
everybody for their service.
It was just a little beautiful
ceremony that we did around
here.”
Ham radio has been used
by American soldiers as a
means to communicate, and
Hall said he thinks that bring
ing attention to ham radio is
another way to pay tribute to
them.
“Altogether today we’ve
had four ham operators who
were veterans, and we’ve
talked to a number a veter
ans. They’ll tell us they appre
ciate that we’re doing this,”
Hall said, “...a lot of ham
operators are veterans and
may have gotten into ham
radio because of doing radio
in service.”
According to Larry Tyson,
vice president of the club,
they contacted over 62 peo
ple over the course of the
event, including people in
Canada and England.
Outside of paying tribute to
veterans, the club hopes the
event helped raise awareness
to ham radio as a method of
communication even in the
digital age.
Club member John Bran
don explained that ham radio
is still used in disaster events
like tornados or just when
people are in need of assis
tance, adding that he once
used his ham radio when he
found a broken down truck
one evening.
“I called the base station,
and an operator answered
that I knew personally. I got
him to make a phone call
for us to send help over for
them,” Brandon said. “I
stayed until they got there
then left. It’s worked out real
good for me.”
Hall said he thinks the
event helped bring together
the ham radio community,
and he hopes it’s grabbed the
attention of some newcomers
as well.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Hall
said. “It does attract attention
to ham radio.”
ABRAMS
■ Continued from 1A
Meanwhile, Kemp has pressed Abrams to
concede.
His campaign issued a statement Saturday
that said it was mathematically impossible
for Abrams to even force a runoff, much
less win outright. It called Abrams’ refusals
to concede “a disgrace to democracy” that
“completely ignore the will of the people.”
But members of civil rights groups, includ
ing the Atlanta-based Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, held a small rally urging Abrams to
keep fighting until every vote is counted.
“That is a promise she made,” said Ben
Williams, president of the Cobb County
branch of the SCLC, founded by the late Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Erick Allen, a black Democrat newly
elected to the Georgia House, said allegations
of voter suppression and questions about
Election Day problems could dog Kemp as
governor if he ultimately prevails.
“The erosion in trust is done,” Allen said.
Abrams is seeking to become the first black
woman elected governor in the United States,
while Kemp is attempting to continue GOP
dominance in a diversifying state that could
be a battleground in the 2020 presidential
election.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
HEART
■ Continued from 1A
They seek other funds in the
way of grants and things like
that.”
The city faces a number
of issues, largely pertain
ing to growth. Hall County
could begin widening Spout
Springs Road next year, Exit
14 off Interstate 985 is slated
to open by fall 2019, and hun
dreds of homes are being
built or are set to be built in
coming years.
Jarchow said she believes
growth and development
are positive things.
“But you want it to be stra
tegic and make sure the city
is able to handle it in terms
of infrastructure,” she said.
“I’d like to see growth that
expands on what’s already
beautiful about Flowery
Branch.”
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