Editor’s note: Jen Jordan lost her race by a margin of 5.3%. To see how Blue Tent's recommended candidates performed this cycle, read our full 2022 midterms rundown.
Georgia’s new status as a swing state means that every .1% of the vote there could determine an entire statewide election — or potentially a presidential election. So Republican efforts to suppress the vote in Georgia are hugely important. Attorney General Christopher Carr has been a willing foot soldier in that suppression campaign, fighting lawsuits challenging the post-2020 anti-voter law passed by the GOP-dominated state legislature. In the best-case scenario, Democrats would be able to win control of the governorship and legislature to overturn such laws, but that doesn’t seem particularly likely at the moment. Still, unseating Carr would be an achievement that will help Democrats claw back power in a vital purple state. State Sen. Jen Jordan easily won her primary and Blue Tent views giving to Jordan’s campaign as a priority. Below, we explore three key questions that small and medium donors should answer before supporting candidates. (See how we evaluate candidates.)
Is this race important?
The attorney general race isn’t the highest priority in Georgia, where there are also U.S. Senate, governor and secretary of state races going on, and all arguably have higher stakes than this contest. But Democrats can’t ignore the AG position as they target Georgia.
Can Jordan win?
Polling in this race is hard to find. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as “competitive,” and that seems correct. Stacey Abrams, the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidate, has been struggling in the polls, and the Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock has had some bad polls recently, as well, suggesting that Georgia may not go Democrats’ way this cycle. That’s bad news for Jordan’s effort to knock off an incumbent, but there’s still a possibility that she wins, even if it will be a stretch.
Does she need money?
This race has become wildly expensive for an AG contest. As of the latest campaign finance reports, Jordan had raised $2.1 million total, which would normally be a healthy amount, but Carr brought in $3.2 million. Jordan could use some help closing that gap, but it’s not an egregious deficit, and she narrowly outraised Carr during the last reporting period. Hers is not the most important or cash-strapped campaign in the country, but the stakes are reasonably high, and she should be a priority for donors.