Political strategists weigh in on Georgia’s early voting turnout, battleground races with election one week away

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All eyes are on Georgia with Election Day just a week away, when results of key races will shape politics well beyond the state itself.

On this edition of “Closer Look,” political strategists weigh in with their interpretations of record early voting turnout and neck-and-neck polling showing many races could swing either way – and predict who may go to a runoff.

“The way I would see it is Republican counties like Cherokee and Forsyth are overperforming and Democratic counties such as Muscogee and Bibb … they’re underperforming,” said Fred Hicks, a political strategist and demographer. “These early voting numbers are painting a very interesting picture but the turnout is high across the board, across every segment.”

Hicks was also joined by Julianne Thompson, a Republican strategist and president of Main Street Network Strategies.

“The fact that those numbers are as high as what they are says a lot for Republicans,” Thompson said. “And as Fred said, younger voters … are barely showing up to vote at all.”