Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has come out in favor of changing the state’s runoff system. In 10 Georgia runoffs held between 1992 and 2018, Republicans won nine of 10 races. Democrats improved their performances over the general elections in each of the past two years. Georgia has had four of the five best runoffs for Democrats in the last 30 years, and three of the most consequential. The runoffs originated as a Jim Crow-era effort by White Georgians to dilute the political power of Black Georgians. They are more frequent now that Georgia is effectively a swing state.
