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"THE MLB'S UNFORCED ERROR COULD BE GEORGIA'S WALK OFF HOMERUN" – LOEFFLER PENS OP-ED IN TOWNHALL
Apr 13, 2021
This morning, Townhall published an op-ed by Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler
dismantling the hypocrisy of the MLB and other "woke" corporations surrounding the Election Integrity Act and criticizing Democrats like Stacey Abrams for their relentless promotion of misinformation over facts and meaningful dialogue. She also used the opportunity to encourage Georgians to support local businesses hurt by the MLB's decision, buy tickets to Braves games, and rally behind the team so that the MLB is forced to host the playoffs in Atlanta. Read the full text of Kelly's op-ed below:
When Major League Baseball decided to relocate
the All-Star Game and Draft from Atlanta due to alleged "restrictions to the ballot box," our country recoiled and our politicians – from the President on down to local activists – backpedaled. The fallout from the misinformation campaign means Georgians and small businesses will strike out. A Rasmussen poll showed a plurality of African American respondents disagreed with MLB's decision and a majority agreed it was a bad idea to combine sports and politics. The great American pastime can do without a partisan power struggle.
For years, Stacey Abrams and her Democrat allies have created false narratives about Georgia's elections and now our state is paying the price. Still refusing to acknowledge her gubernatorial defeat—saying the election was "stolen" – she's built a business on sowing election doubts and discontent in exchange for political power. After passage of Georgia's Election Integrity Act, Abrams launched another misinformation campaign, complete with false
statements – to pave the way for an unconstitutional federal takeover of elections, known as HR1.
Big corporations like the MLB fell prey to Abrams' big lies at the expense of hardworking Georgians. Their ready-fire-aim decision to move the All-Star game – based on laws that actually expand access to voting – has hurt the very people they claim to help. Experts estimate Georgia will lose over $100 million
in expected revenue. Sadly, Black-owned businesses will feel the economic fallout. 52 percent of Atlanta's population is African-American, and nearly 30 percent
of Atlanta's businesses are Black-owned. These small businesses are rightfully now calling out the MLB and its selfish, hypocritical decision to move the game to Denver – a city with a significantly smaller minority population and more restrictive voting laws.
Yet, this boycott is playing out here despite the fact that states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware all provide less ballot access. With 65 percent of Fortune 500 companies incorporated in Delaware, it's an inconvenient truth for many, from the Oval Office to the C-suite. Other outlets have noted these organizations' attacks on Georgia, but their silence on China's human rights violations to protect profitable business deals. Perhaps it's easier to make these decisions when someone else pays the price.
Activists like Stacey Abrams stoke fear of reprisal by intimidating companies into complying with their demands. The mainstream media provides cover and distribution by printing their misinformation campaigns at no cost. This environment prevents the honest conversations and meaningful debates needed in the democratic process. In fact, a court of public opinion barely remains: it's an oppressive arena of woke, liberal virtue signaling – and failure to conform means retribution.
To reinforce that, today's media narrative is that CEO's now need to be involved in politics. As someone who spent 30 years in the private sector starting and building successful companies, politics was for outside the office. To engage generally meant alienating some portion of our fellow employees or customer base – and there was rarely ever any upside. The simple truth is that the majority of Americans want less – not more – politics in their lives. Companies – also known as employers – provide tremendous good in our economy and help make America strong. Their economic engine helps advance society by discovering vaccines, offering a young person their first job, and giving back in their communities. But alienating half of their stakeholders by engaging in politics eliminates untold goodwill. And for many activists, the response will never be enough, it will never come at the right time, and it will never include the right words, concessions or promises.
In their response to Major League Baseball's abrupt, ill-informed decision, the Atlanta Braves had a stirring message amid their disappointment: "Our city has always been known as a uniter in divided times and we will miss the opportunity to address issues that are important to our community…We will continue to support the community legacy projects which have been planned and are in process."
I hope that our state will take the same hopeful response. Let's support our Atlanta Braves to a winning season to bring the MLB World Series to Atlanta. Like no other city in the past, Atlanta has proven its ability to rise above divisive politics. We can show America a better way forward, one that's not reliant on power-hungry politicians but on the American people who refuse to be lied to or silenced. By buying tickets to a Braves game, dining at a restaurant near the stadium, we can support the small businesses and employees whose economic opportunities were canceled by the careless words of Stacey Abrams, Joe Biden, Raphael Warnock, and the MLB. It is time for a World Series in Atlanta, and where we can properly honor Hank Aaron in a state that loved him.
If you ask me, it would be an epic walk off, home run answer to Major League Baseball's cautionary, unforced error.
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Media Contact: press@greatergeorgia.com
(ATLANTA) – Today, Greater Georgia Chairwoman and former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler applauded Governor Kemp as he signed a package of new election integrity bills into law. The package features several key pieces of legislation, including Senate Bill 189 - which codifies some of the most significant election reforms of 2024. “Greater Georgia is grateful to Governor Kemp for signing today’s package of election reforms - and to our conservative leaders, including Lt. Governor Jones and Speaker Burns, who have made continuous investments in election integrity, year after year,” said Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler. “Although there is always more work to be done, our new laws will ensure even more accuracy, safety, and transparency. On the eve of a presidential election, Georgians deserve to have confidence that - despite the best efforts of liberal activists in our courts, our media, and our federal government - their votes will count. That's why Greater Georgia will continue to be a watchdog for election integrity.” Senate Bill 189 expands on the previous reforms of SB 202, Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, which was passed in 2021. Among other provisions, the new law: Removes the Secretary of State from the State Election Board to promote impartiality in Board deliberations. Expands the conditions for challenging and removing ineligible voters from the voter rolls to ensure only legal, eligible citizens can vote. Sets clear deadlines for submitting absentee ballots. Allows a political party’s presidential candidate to qualify for Georgia’s ballot if they have obtained ballot access in 20 other states. Bans Secretary of State employees from obtaining state contracts related to voting equipment, preventing conflicts of interest. Creates additional ballot chain of custody rules starting in 2025 to prevent tampering or misplacement of absentee ballots. Eliminates QR codes from ballots starting in 2026 so that only human-readable inputs are counted when tabulating vote totals. Senate Bill 189 was sponsored by State Senator Max Burns (R-Sylvania) and carried in the State House by Representative John LaHood (R-Valdosta). Greater Georgia, launched by former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler in 2021, is a 501(c4) nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to growing participation in the democratic process by mobilizing and empowering voters. The group works year-round to educate and register voters, engage with diverse and underrepresented communities, and protect election integrity. ### Media Contact: press@greatergeorgia.com
(ATLANTA) – This week, Greater Georgia hosted the second annual Greater Georgia Legislative Awards Ceremony. Held in Atlanta, the event drew over 300 guests to honor state lawmakers and leaders for their accomplishments during the 2024 legislative session. Honored guest speakers included Governor Brian P. Kemp, First Lady Marty Kemp, and Speaker of the House Jon Burns. Award recipients from the Georgia General Assembly included: State Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch Majority Whip Randy Robertson Majority Caucus Secretary Larry Walker Senator Greg Dolezal Senator Russ Goodman State House Representative Lauren Daniel Representative Matthew Gambill Representative John LaHood Representative Mesha Mainor Representative Steven Sainz View photos from the event below.
ATLANTA – Today, Greater Georgia released key findings from an analysis of voter data from the state’s Presidential Preference Primary, held March 12, 2024. The data revealed signs of promise for the conservative movement, which is backed by voter enthusiasm, growing support from diverse communities, and an influx of new voters - including 7,000 first-time voters and 30,000 crossover voters. “The Greater Georgia analysis shows both progress and room for growth,” said Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler. “It is no surprise that conservatives have the enthusiasm advantage going into November, given the failed Biden agenda that has depressed turnout in Democratic primaries across the country. And although we also see signs of new support from minority, first-time, and crossover voters on the Republican side, 2024 will ultimately be about turnout. That’s why we will continue to mobilize voters in support of conservatives up and down the ballot, to promote opportunity, security, and freedom.” More than 588,000 voters participated in Georgia’s Republican presidential primary compared to the 290,000 who participated in the Democratic presidential primary. In the Republican primary, women made up 52% of the electorate. While white voters made up the majority of the electorate at 95%, more Asian and Hispanic voters pulled a Republican ballot than a Democratic ballot. In fact, Hispanic voters represented a larger share of the Republican primary electorate in 2024 than in 2020, indicating growing support within the Latino and Hispanic communities. Most of the Republican electorate comprised those who had pulled a GOP ballot in all or most primary elections. But 30,000 Republican voters, or 5% of the Republican electorate, were either split-primary voters, majority Democratic primary voters, or exclusively Democratic primary voters. These 30,000 voters were more likely to be rural, nonwhite, and lower-income citizens. Notably, nearly 7,000 first-time voters participated in the Republican primary - compared to just 3,000 first-time voters in the Democratic primary. Democrats, meanwhile, saw a dramatic decrease in turnout for the presidential primary compared to 2020, when about 800,000 more Democrats voted. This year’s Democratic electorate was 64% women, 65% black, and 52% over the age of 65. Fewer Hispanic, Asian, and first-time voters participated in the Democratic primary compared to the Republican primary. 6,000 voters left their ballots blank. The lack of enthusiasm reflected in the Democratic primary is consistent with the poll conducted by Greater Georgia earlier this year, which found that 57% of likely Georgia voters had an unfavorable opinion of Joe Biden. Greater Georgia, launched by former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler in 2021, is a 501(c4) nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to growing participation in the democratic process by mobilizing and empowering voters. The group works year-round to educate and register voters, engage with diverse and underrepresented communities, and protect election integrity. ### Media Contact: press@greatergeorgia.com
ATLANTA – In case you missed it, Greater Georgia commissioned a recent poll of likely and Republican voters across the state ahead of the 2024 election. The poll, conducted by Guidant Polling & Strategy, delved into key areas such as the economy, public safety, and other issues of the day - including the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, school vouchers, and election integrity reform. As the pollsters noted in their memo, the poll shows strong support for conservative leadership at the state level - and deep dissatisfaction with the status quo in Washington. Read recent coverage about the poll from James Magazine HERE , or view excerpts below. You can also view the full memo HERE . “The basic conservative principles of economic opportunity, safety, and freedom cut across party lines – resonating not only with traditional Republican primary voters, but also with moderates and independents. From education to crime and immigration, to the economy, Republicans at the state level are winning on the issues – in contrast to the unpopular policies of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. “As we enter the 2024 election cycle, the good news for Republicans is that candidates on the ballot in Georgia will not have to compromise on their conservative values to win a broad coalition of voters. Primary and swing voters alike view Georgia’s conservative leadership as a firewall to the chaos and big government policies of Washington – which means the path to victory relies on promoting the common-sense, conservative policies which are already a hallmark of this state.” Greater Georgia, launched by former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler in 2021, is a 501(c4) nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to growing participation in the democratic process by mobilizing and empowering voters. The group works year-round to educate and register voters, engage with diverse and underrepresented communities, and protect election integrity. ### Media Contact: press@greatergeorgia.com
ATLANTA – Yesterday, Greater Georgia exposed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for only clocking into work 42 times this year, even amid an as-yet unaddressed cybersecurity exposure affecting Georgia's voting machines. Today, state lawmakers echoed those same concerns at a Senate Ethics hearing - where they had planned to question Secretary Raffensperger about his refusal to fix the well-publicized vulnerabilities within Georgia's election infrastructure. The only problem is, Secretary Raffensperger didn't show up - either for the hearing or for a press conference called by his own office earlier in the day. Instead, Secretary of State staff members faced over two hours of questions about why the state had not made plans to fix the security exposures they had known about since 2021, why there wasn't more urgency to do so ahead of a presidential election year, and where the Secretary has been. The oversight panel criticized the Secretary for taking a wait-and-see approach to cybersecurity, for failing to request the funds he needed to fix the machines, and for not giving his full time or energy to defending Georgia's elections. State Senator Randy Robertson summed it up : "There's a lot of times that we look around the Secretary of State's office. I'm talking about the individual who's elected to hold that office. He's a ghost. Today he's at a rotary meeting to speak down in south Georgia...the Chairman notified him of [this hearing] a month ago...if that rotary meeting was more important than coming up here and speaking in front of the Georgia citizens that are watching this, then that's his burden to bear. But these questions that we ask are not for your benefit or for our benefit - as much as they are for the men and women who lost confidence in the Georgia election system." Yesterday, Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler had a similar message when she called on the Secretary of State to get back to work: "Voters are entrusting our elections to a Secretary of State who has spent more time glad-handing liberal elites and attacking conservatives as ‘election deniers’ than addressing legitimate security issues. This is not a partisan issue - it’s about accountability in a battleground state that will decide the next U.S. President. Ensuring secure elections is not a job that can be done from the green room of MSNBC; right now, with critical security vulnerabilities exposed to the world, this state needs our top elections official to get back to work for the voters of Georgia.” Greater Georgia, launched by former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler in 2021, is a 501(c4) nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to growing participation in the democratic process by mobilizing and empowering voters. The group works year-round to educate and register voters, engage with diverse and underrepresented communities, and protect election integrity. ### Media Contact: press@greatergeorgia.com
ATLANTA – Today, following the release of a new report by the Washington Examiner , Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler called on Georgia’s top election official to return to his taxpayer-funded job and direct his full attention to ensuring election integrity - starting by fixing known security vulnerabilities in Georgia’s voting machines. Earlier this year, Greater Georgia and other groups called on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to fix a critical security vulnerability in Georgia’s voting machines before the 2024 election. Secretary Raffensperger, whose office had been aware of the vulnerabilities since 2021, announced that he would not update the machines until at least 2025, citing a lack of time - despite his advanced notice and the fact that several other states had already taken steps to implement the patch. But according to open records obtained by Greater Georgia and verified by the Washington Examiner , Raffensperger may have been able to execute the update had it been prioritized over cross-country trips to appear with celebrities, Democrat elites, and liberal media. Georgia’s top elections official has been to his office 42 days in the first nine months of 2023, averaging five days per month and four hours per visit. Raffensperger, who collects a taxpayer-funded salary of nearly $130,000 plus benefits, has spent about 70% of all work days out of office since 2021. Over the last few months, Raffensperger has instead attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in D.C., the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, and the 2024 Campaign Journalism Conference in Chicago - managing to score interviews with MSNBC and others. He was recently announced as a headliner for an L.A. conference alongside Hollywood celebs Ed Helms and Michael Douglas. “Voters are entrusting our elections to a Secretary of State who has spent more time glad-handing liberal elites and attacking conservatives as ‘election deniers’ than addressing legitimate security iss ues,” said Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler. “This is not a partisan issue - it’s about accountability in a battleground state that will decide the next U.S. President. Ensuring secure elections is not a job that can be done from the green room of MSNBC; right now, with critical security vulnerabilities exposed to the world, this state needs our top elections official to get back to work for the voters of Georgia.” In 2021, Georgia’s Secretary of State became the first official in the nation to learn about vulnerabilities in the Dominion software - when the University of Michigan audited the state’s voting machines as part of a lawsuit. The Department of Homeland Security then issued a security advisory in June 2022, urging every state to fix the vulnerabilities “as soon as possible.” Dominion subsequently distributed a software update, which was approved for nationwide implementation in March 2023. Within months, several states including Colorado , Michigan , and Washington independently tested and certified the software update. Michigan announced plans to update its machines in full before the 2024 presidential primary. By contrast, Georgia’s Secretary of State announced he would not implement the update for another two years. To date, the Secretary’s office has not provided a clear timeline or cost estimate for the update and has failed to request funds for it in both the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions. The office has, however, spent time lashing out at those who have called for the update, including a broad range of cybersecurity and election experts, as “election-denying conspiracy theorists.” They insist that the existing election system is “safe, secure, and accurate” - and have similarly failed to address recent episodes, even in the last two weeks, of early voting failures in DeKalb , Fulton , and Henry Counties. Greater Georgia, launched by former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler in 2021, is a 501(c4) nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to growing participation in the democratic process by mobilizing and empowering voters. The group works year-round to educate and register voters, engage with diverse and underrepresented communities, and protect election integrity. ### Media Contact: press@greatergeorgia.com