In preparation for Election Day and its aftermath, theGrio political contributors Dr. Christina M. Greer and Dr. Jason Johnson will be steering the Dear Culture Podcast ship with their political expertise.
With an estimated record amount of 160 million votes for this year’s presidential election, this nation is still at a question mark with who our next president will be. As the country prepares for what is to come in the next four years, all eyes are on swing states.
From Pennsylvania, Michigan to the recently flipped state of Arizona, the 2020 election is running real tight between Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Republican presidential incumbent Donald Trump. So this week on the Dear Culture Podcast, our political hosts Greer and Johnson talk presidential predictions and what to potentially expect as votes continue to be counted.
Read More: After judge’s order, Postal Service sweep finds only 13 ballots
Tune in as we ask, “Dear Culture, why don’t we have the election results yet?”
“The election doesn’t really start, until some states flip.” says Johnson, professor of politics at Morgan State University.
As predicted, the swing states hold the key to our nation’s electoral outcome. As our hosts go through state by state, theGrio’s politics editor, Dr. Greer, said she has “never factored Florida” into her electoral calculus. For Democrats, Greer recommends the Obama model of winning 270 electoral votes without Florida, which traditionally votes red.
“This was not a persuasion election,” says Johnson. “If you’re the kind of person who thinks Biden is a socialist, you were never going to vote for a Democrat anyway.”
Additionally, Georgia, which also has two Senate races likely heading to a run-off, has not gone blue since President Bill Clinton won it in 1992. And though the voter turn-out in Georgia was significant, the state is still marred with a recent history of voter suppression.
Read More: If Trump were to be reelected, that’s on white people
Interestingly, on Election Day in Fulton County a pipe broke at 5:30 a.m. and it wasn’t fixed, causing the counting of ballots to be delayed until Friday. Whether shenanigans or incompetence, Greer and Johnson both think hopes for a Blue Georgia is yet to come. As of now, the most is pushing the dial to purple.
The situation in North Carolina is “strange” to Greer and Johnson at the very least. Black U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has been ordering Postmaster Louis Dejoy to ensure high-speed mailing machines, reverse limitations on mail collection, and since yesterday bring 300,000 certified mailed-in ballots to polling locations.
“Whatever the small margins are, whether it’s the Senate or president race, you got 300,000 ballots that can be split between Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina,” says Johnson.
As votes continue to be counted and news develops, Dr. Greer jokingly reminds us that “this country is full of Chicken Littles.” Not only is “the sky not falling,” she says, but the people are alive and will be OK whatever the outcome. Either way, she said, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Tune in Dear Culture, the smart, reliable Black news podcast. Now streaming on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Stitcher.
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!