Grandmothers in 2020

Well, the results in the Senate races in 2020 were not what we wanted. Covid presented difficulties for us: most of us could not gather together to write cards, as was our custom, and several Grandmothers had trouble getting their cards printed and acquiring stamps. We had hoped to replace three sitting Senators and to elect a Democrat to an open seat in North Carolina, but we did not succeed.

Nevertheless, we reveled in the election of Joe Biden to the Presidency, and we celebrated the effort we had put in to our effort despite the challenges: eight hundred eighty-two people from forty states requested names—from Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and so many others—and several of those requests represented groups of women. Over and over our Grandmothers came back for additional names when their original lists were completed, even for other states. All told, we sent 80,000 cards to Kentucky, 25,030 cards to Maine, 35,000 cards to North Carolina, and 78,481 cards to South Carolina.

Then there was the amazing case of Georgia! Because Georgia requires a majority of the vote to elect a U. S. Senator, there had to be a run-off election between Jon Ossoff and David Perdue for a six-year term. A run-off was also required for the special election for a two-year term between Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler. So we got out our pens again, and this time we were successful. Both Joh Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were elected on January 5, 2021, and as a result the Democrats attained a majority, and Chuck Schumer became Majority Leader.

Our efforts in 2022 will be as important as they have ever been. But we have excellent candidates, and we have every expectation that our Grandmothers will work as hard as ever, and will even increase in numbers, recognizing that these are difficult times.