Carolyn Bourdeaux - Wikipedia
Democrats need to ditch identity politics if they want to win elections
Democrats in Georgia have been so focused on the politics of identity they are missing the opportunity to unite a broad coalition that will win the governorship in 2026.
Opinion: Democrats need to ditch identity politics if they want to wi…
Former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (right) speaks about his Democratic campaign for governor Sept. 17, 2025, at Black Coffee Co., in Atlanta. (Jeff Amy/AP)
The Trump administration continues to pillage the federal government, canceling programs that protect our health and safety, destroying carefully built international alliances, turning the Justice Department against political enemies, and harnessing the power of the regulatory state, mafiosi style, to extort vast sectors of the American economy — from large private businesses generally, to law firms, to universities, to the communications sector.
Meanwhile, Republicans are busy gerrymandering their way into what they hope will be a permanent majority, state by state.
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Where are Democrats? Let’s see — sitting at around 30% approval, worse than Republicans, worse than Donald Trump himself.
So why are people not rallying to the barricades for the Democratic Party the way they did in 2018 and 2020?
It’s not for lack of distress about the havoc of the Trump administration. Rather, I suspect, the values and the worldview of the Democratic Party have slid deeply out of alignment with where many middle-class Americans are socially, fiscally and economically. And on top of this is a toxic, identity politics culture that permeates the institutional Democratic Party, particularly in Georgia.
Where are Democrats? Let’s see — sitting at around 30% approval, worse than Republicans, worse than Donald Trump himself.
So why are people not rallying to the barricades for the Democratic Party the way they did in 2018 and 2020?
It’s not for lack of distress about the havoc of the Trump administration. Rather, I suspect, the values and the worldview of the Democratic Party have slid deeply out of alignment with where many middle-class Americans are socially, fiscally and economically. And on top of this is a toxic, identity politics culture that permeates the institutional Democratic Party, particularly in Georgia.
3 observations about Georgia’s Democratic Party today
The latter challenge came to mind when I recently saw a social media post by a local Democratic Party operative: “Institutional racism in the Democratic party looks like accepting Geoff Duncan as a suitable choice for Governor in the Democratic primary.”
The support for this statement among other Democratic Party activists was broad and included a further elaboration that white liberal Democratic leaders were racist and were foisting the white former Republican lieutenant governor on the party faithful.
These sentiments, expressed and shared by so many Georgia Democrats, are one reason they are about to lose — again.
First, no one is foisting anything on anyone.
The idea that the Georgia Democratic Party is an institution with any capacity to accomplish much of anything, much less help broker a primary, is just fiction. The Democratic Party of Georgia offers, at best, some modest training for candidates, very modest (if any) support for county chapters, provides quotes for the news media about what “Democrats” think, and then hosts a very nice annual Carter-Lewis Dinner.
The former Republican lieutenant governor is going to have to make his case to the Democratic primary electorate just like any other candidate, including explaining his positions and why they changed.
His appeal is that he has shown enormous political courage over and over again, supported a Democratic Black woman for president at enormous political and personal cost, and may be able to break away from the widely discredited Democratic Party brand (see polling above).
The latter challenge came to mind when I recently saw a social media post by a local Democratic Party operative: “Institutional racism in the Democratic party looks like accepting Geoff Duncan as a suitable choice for Governor in the Democratic primary.”
The support for this statement among other Democratic Party activists was broad and included a further elaboration that white liberal Democratic leaders were racist and were foisting the white former Republican lieutenant governor on the party faithful.
These sentiments, expressed and shared by so many Georgia Democrats, are one reason they are about to lose — again.
First, no one is foisting anything on anyone.
The idea that the Georgia Democratic Party is an institution with any capacity to accomplish much of anything, much less help broker a primary, is just fiction. The Democratic Party of Georgia offers, at best, some modest training for candidates, very modest (if any) support for county chapters, provides quotes for the news media about what “Democrats” think, and then hosts a very nice annual Carter-Lewis Dinner.
The former Republican lieutenant governor is going to have to make his case to the Democratic primary electorate just like any other candidate, including explaining his positions and why they changed.
His appeal is that he has shown enormous political courage over and over again, supported a Democratic Black woman for president at enormous political and personal cost, and may be able to break away from the widely discredited Democratic Party brand (see polling above).
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Second, the Democratic power structure and leadership in Georgia, which largely resides among its elected officials, is dominated by Black leaders, including every Democratic member of Congress, one senator, the leadership of both the state House and Senate Democratic caucuses, and most of the metro area county executives and chairs.
Rather than “white liberals” foisting a white candidate on a racially diverse electorate, the far more likely scenario is that former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Black woman, will win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination because the Democratic primary electorate tends to favor Black women.
Second, the Democratic power structure and leadership in Georgia, which largely resides among its elected officials, is dominated by Black leaders, including every Democratic member of Congress, one senator, the leadership of both the state House and Senate Democratic caucuses, and most of the metro area county executives and chairs.
Rather than “white liberals” foisting a white candidate on a racially diverse electorate, the far more likely scenario is that former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Black woman, will win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination because the Democratic primary electorate tends to favor Black women.
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