Jim Barksdale’s plan to oust Johnny Isakson from Georgia’s Senate seat

[madelka]

Interesting article.

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This race might become a Tossup if Trump goes down badly... Leans R for now.

[windjammer]

Likely rep just because we dont know by which Margin Trump would implode.

Isakson should have it in the bag.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Georgia doesn't work like that. Safe R sadly

[Heisenberg]

Safe R.

Of course. In my timeline, the Georgia Senate race was called immediately.

[Kingpoleon]

If Clinton gets >46%, Barksdale should win by a combination of Clinton's voters and Trump Independents.

[publicunofficial]

Safe R until Barksdale proves he can make this a race, through fundraising or a series of polls that show he's competitive.

Isakson is bascially Generic R. I would expect him to hang on even if Clinton carries Georgia.

[This account no longer in use.]

Georgia is the ultimate Democratic fools' gold.

[Kevin]

I'm sure an "investment manager" is going to go over real well given the anti-Wall Street sentiment throughout the country.

Safe R until otherwise noted as others here have mentioned.

[Pragmatic Conservative]

I still am going to say Safe R until we see some polling.

[catographer]

It's kind of like the situation of New York and California. A duck wearing a dress would beat any Republican in a statewide race in those states.

[IceSpear]

Safe R.

This, though it wouldn't surprise me if we got some "shock polls" showing it relatively tight, due to how polarized GA is.

[MT Treasurer]

Safe R.

I would not discount him.  If it weren't for the dang runoff rule, I would have this as Democrat's most likely red state upset.  He's well positioned to get crossover votes from anti-establishment Trump indies too.  Populist outsiders who've never or only barely held elected office are exactly what has worked in red/blue state upsets recently.  Think Scott Brown, Hogan, Baker, JBE, Ernst, Donnelly, Tester, Hagan over Dole, Wolf (blueish swing state, but should never have defeated an incumbent R in 2014!), etc.

At any rate, he's a far better bet for GA Dems than running more retreads and political families.

You're making some good points and I would be very worried about this race if it was an open seat, but no Republican incumbent with crossover appeal in a Deep South state is going to lose this year. Barksdale spent all that money only to barely avoid a runoff in the primary against two no-name candidates. The white vote is way too polarized for Barksdale to win and I suspect Isakson will outperform Trump among minority voters as well (maybe not by much, but by enough to get >50% on election day). My guess is that Isakson wins by 9 or 10 points (54%-44% or so).

[Maxwell]

I could see Barksdale running a competitive race against a normal candidate, but I think Isakson is pretty entrenched, and compared to some of the wacky individuals in the Georgia Republican Party, pretty inoffensive.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Random anti-trade out of touch investment banker I've never heard of  vs. moderate-ish incumbent senator. The choice is obvious.

#reelectIsakson