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Racist mailer surfaces in special election

Republicans are up to their same tricks, relying on racist tropes to try to draw out their base for a special election in portions of Henry and Newton Counties taking place on Tuesday, January 9.

The special election covers seats for both the State Senate and State House of Representatives. Senate District 17 and House District 111 are up for grabs, check the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page to find which districts you live in and your polling location.

After Democrats flipped three other seats in special elections around Georgia, Republicans must be getting nervous.

Nervous enough to send out blatantly racist flyers encouraging people to vote against the two Democratic candidates for the District 111 House seat.

Paid for by the Georgia Republican Party, the mailer shows an image of people climbing over a wall, with the text, “We don’t know El-Madhi Holly and Tarji Dunn, but we do know plenty about the illegal immigration policies that Democrats stand for.”

On the other side, the mailer goes on to say, “We can’t trust Holly and Dunn to support President Trump’s immigration policies in Georgia.”

In case there was any doubt, Trump is still the gold standard for the Republican Party of Georgia. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.

This mailer is clearly designed to stoke racist, anti-immigrant fervor, and it’s pretty disgusting (although not surprising) that these sorts of blatantly racist views still fly.

The special elections are occurring in districts that are fairly racially diverse and primarily made up of working and middle class families. The area leans Democrat, voting for both Obama and Clinton in the past two presidential elections.

And yet, Republicans have managed to hang on to the district for years. But now there’s a unique chance to shake things up. Visit the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page to find your polling location and check which districts you live in.

House District 111 has two Democrats — El-Mahdi Holly and Tarji Dunn — and two Republicans — Geoffrey Cauble and Larry Morey — running for office. While Senate District 17 has one Democrat — Phyllis Hatcher — and three Republicans — Brian Strickland, Ed Toney and Nelva Lee — running for office. It’s very likely the special elections will go into a run-off, if no candidate is able to get more than fifty percent of the vote.

If you or someone you know lives in these districts, get out and vote Tuesday, January 9.

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