Saving America? Perry Thurston leads Florida Democrats to knock on Georgia doors

Perry Thurston

A prominent state Senator will lead Sunshine State Democrats northward this weekend to knock on Georgia doors for U.S. Senate candidates.

Sen. Perry Thurston, a Broward County Democrat representing Senate District 33, will lead a contingent of activists to the Peach State to knock doors for candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, challengers to U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

Described in a press release as “Florida Saving America Bus Tour Heading to Georgia,” the chartered bus leaves from Thurston’s district office in Fort Lauderdale at 3 p.m. Friday, heads to Orlando, and convoys to Georgia with at least one more bus.

Thurston’s office said “the journey is intended to showcase the Sunshine State’s support for the candidates, and to underscore the critical importance of the Jan. 5 election on the future direction of the U.S. Senate and its impact on the people of the country.”

Though Democrats are still running a more socially distanced campaign than Republicans, who are having full scale, mask optional rallies, Thurston’s play shows they aren’t completely neglecting ground game.

There is at least a slim chance that Thurston and his contingent may bump into a Republican group from Florida, meanwhile, as the GOP has its own Georgia effort ongoing, and including a bus tour via the Republican Party of Florida this weekend for what is billed as an “Invasion Weekend.”

The plan at this writing: Republican activists meet in Savannah on Saturday morning, at 10 a.m. at the Downtown Springhill Suites.

From there, the volunteers are given “walk books” with which they are to deploy and persuade Georgians to cast their votes for the Republican incumbents.

Vice Chairman Christian Ziegler made an impassioned case for the “invasion.”

“You know what’s on the line in Georgia — Control over the U.S. Senate and protecting America from being destroyed by the Liberal Socialists committed to Defunding the police, Enacting socialism, and putting America last,” Ziegler emailed supporters this week, arbitrary capitalization his own.

“And with so much on the line,” he adds, “you didn’t think the FloridaGOP would let this fight happen without jumping in to help Save The Senate, did you?”

“Hell No, We Won’t,” he added.

The stakes are high. If Republicans manage to lose both these elections, it’s a 50/50 Senate, and a clear path for an active two years from the Joe Biden administration and Democrats who would control both chambers of Congress.