If I Still Lived in Georgia, Warnock & Ossoff Would Have Lost My Vote Over Their Anti-Israel Vote

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

During my brief tenure in Georgia in late 2020 and early 2021, I voted in the Senate runoff elections which saw Democrats Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff unseat Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to give Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. 

I voted for the pair despite my specific misgivings about Warnock's past statements likening Israel to an apartheid regime. However, the pair would provide much needed COVID relief. Something which would not have happened had Republicans been re-elected.

Of course, I would leave Georgia to return to Massachusetts in May 2021. Had I remained in Georgia, I would have voted for Warnock over Herschel Walker in the 2022 mid-terms. But last week both Warnock and Ossoff saw fit to join Bernie Sanders' effort to halt arms sales to Israel which drew tough criticism from Esther Panitch, a Georgia Democratic State Rep and the only Jewish member of the legislature as well as from numerous state and local Jewish groups.

Had I still been in Georgia they both would have lost my vote. Mind you, Warnock isn't up for re-election until 2028. But Ossoff is up for re-election in 2026, and he hopes it will be against Marjorie Taylor-Greene who has an anti-Semitism problem of her own. 

I'm sure many Jewish voters in Georgia who are unhappy with Ossoff would not be eager to cast a vote for MTG. However, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp or Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could vie for the GOP nomination and, if successful, could woo Jewish voters disappointed with Ossoff. 

I don't regret my vote for Ossoff and Warnock in 2021. I thought they were the best candidates for those offices at the time despite my reservations and they did what they were elected to do. But no politician is entitled to my vote in perpetuity. Combine my anger at Democrats who openly abandon Israel while still being disdainful of Republicans who won't stand up to Trump, were I still living in Georgia, I'd probably leave my Senate ballot blank by way of protest. Kind of like what I did on my ballot for the Massachusetts Senate race between Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton. Although I'd probably be more open to casting a ballot for Raffensperger than Kemp. 

Then again, it could all be academic if President-elect Trump suspends the Constitution after he returns to office and there are no further elections.