If you had told Jon Ossoff 24 hours ago that Georgia’s sixth district was going to see torrential downpours and flash flooding on Election Day, he might not have been too worried. In fact, he may even have taken such a forecast as good news.
The Democratic congressional candidate is widely expected to win the district’s early vote. Republican Karen Handel’s campaign, by contrast, is counting on strong conservative turnout Tuesday to put her over the top in the razor-tight race.
So, a soggy playing field might have been favorable terrain for Team Blue — if it didn’t happen to be considerably soggier on their half of the field. As Politico reports:
At DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, which sits in the state’s 5th District but is close to a heavily Democratic part of the 6th District, 4.58 inches of rain fell between noon and 4 p.m. Eastern Time — almost as much as typically falls in the entire month of June. But in Cobb County, home to more Republican voters, far less rain has fallen. As of 4 p.m. at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, just 0.86 inches of rain had fallen.
A flash-flood warning was issued for parts of Fulton and Dekalb County at 1 p.m., and will remain in place until 7:15 p.m. — fifteen minutes after polls close. Roads near multiple Democratic precincts were experiencing flood conditions by late afternoon.
Which is to say: Things look less-than-ideal for Team Ossoff. But, then again, that flash-flood warning covers parts of North Fulton, where Handel was expecting to perform quite well. And the storm appears on track to hit Cobb County before polls close.
So, given Ossoff’s advantage in the early vote, maybe the weather will end up being a wash.
Or maybe God is a Republican (like most other old, white men).
