Voters, party leaders weigh role of candidates, Trump in blue wave

The country has seen a blue wave, including in Georgia.

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Channel 2’s Richard Elliot reports that some voters say the election was a referendum on President Donald Trump.

Democrats say it was because they had good candidates like Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Republicans say there were several structural issues in the way the campaigns were run.

But both sides agree, the president played a part in what happened Election Day.

Tucker child care center owner Michelle Barber thinks Democratic victories Tuesday were due in part to good candidates, but she also laid responsibility at the foot of president trump.

“I think it was a little bit of both, but more of the president’s policies and demeanor, and you know, how he’s just been representing the United States,” Barber said.

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Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon agrees in part that it was a referendum on President Trump, but he also says structural issues within the party and the individual campaigns are just as much to blame.

And he says they need to be corrected moving forward.

“But I think we would be making a real mistake going into 2028 not acknowledging these other structural issues that we need to straighten out if we want to win elections,” McKoon said.

Elliot also spoke with Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, who says the big win was due to a failure by Republicans to address basic affordability issues but also because, he says, they had great candidates like Bottoms.

“People knew her as mayor. More importantly, they knew what was in her heart,” Martin said. “They knew how hard she worked for Atlanta and for Georgia, and she presented a much different vision for Georgia, clearly.”

Jeff Nelson thinks people voted against Trump and the war.

He told me he was working in the Middle East when the war started. He and his family had to be evacuated.

“People are not happy with the war specifically. I could tell you I was not happy with that having to move away. My family, we lived there, you know,” Nelson said.

McKoon believes state Republicans can rebuild and challenge again in two years.

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