When Democrats Lose, It's Voter Suppression. When They Win, It's

Despite everyone’s complaints about the fizzling out of the “red wave” — and much of that complaining is undoubtedly warranted — the 2022 midterms went really well in Georgia.

All of the Republican candidates for statewide offices trounced their Democrat opponents handily (with one exception that we’ll get to in a minute). The GOP flipped one House seat from blue to read, largely thanks to redistricting, and nearly flipped another seat that hadn’t elected a Republican since the 1870s.

All of this came after the passage of Georgia’s 2021 election law, which, in the words of Gov. Brian Kemp, made it “easier to vote and harder to cheat.” The 2022 midterms saw a record turnout at the polls in Georgia, including record minority participation.

However, one race didn’t go the GOP’s way, and it was arguably the most high-profile. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) went to a runoff with football great and Republican candidate Herschel Walker and barely eked out a win.

Warnock won, yet he still claims that “voter suppression” was rampant throughout the state. Maybe he lacks self-awareness enough to think he should’ve won in a landslide, or maybe he fell for the line from the Associated Press about the “slate of strong Democratic downballot candidates running in Georgia.” Those candidates’ only strength was in parroting party talking points. Either way, Warnock seems to think that “voter suppression” is a genuine issue in Georgia even though he won.

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, one of those Republicans who curb-stomped one of those “strong Democratic downballot candidates” to win re-election easily, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. In it, he called Warnock an “election denier” for complaining about “voter suppression” in an election he won.

Raffensperger blasts Warnock and the Democrats:

Mr. Warnock and the White House have decided to double down on false claims anyway. During his victory speech, Mr. Warnock stated: “Just because [voters] endured the rain and cold and all kinds of tricks in order to vote, doesn’t mean that voter suppression does not exist.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who has claimed both the 2016 presidential and 2018 Georgia gubernatorial elections were stolen, pointed to unspecified reports of “suppression.”

I thought I had heard every conspiracy theory there was after the 2020 election, but the idea that Republicans control the weather to make it harder for Democrats to vote is a new one. I pity the voters of the Northeast’s blue states who regularly vote in the cold—largely with less early voting than Georgia if they have any at all.

And I don’t even know what Mr. Warnock means by “all kinds of other tricks.” Perhaps he’s referring to Georgia’s common-sense requirement of photo ID for all forms of voting, which he has supported overturning through a federal takeover of elections. Or maybe he’s referring to our citizenship check, which his allies are still trying to overturn in court.

Messrs. Warnock’s and Biden’s stolen-election claims would be laughable if they weren’t so dangerous to public trust in elections.

I know. It’s pretty daring of Raffensperger to apply the term “election denier” to a Democrat like Warnock. Doesn’t he know that the term only applies to Republicans?

For Warnock’s part, all he can do is reply with Democrat talking points. He appeared on CBS Mornings on Monday to tell the hosts that “we can do better.”

“There is nothing more sacred than the right to vote,” Warnock said. “You can have the right to vote and still not have access.”

Warnock’s solution is the Democrats’ federal legislation that enshrines Democrat Party shenanigans into law in their attempt to hold onto power as tightly as they can.

Bless his heart. Only a Democrat can win and still claim that “voter suppression” was a factor in his victory.