Politics

How the Democrats’ Massive Georgia Vote Push Flipped the Senate

The party and its allies devoted unheard-of funds to a huge, narrowly targeted ground game.

Shauna SwearingtonPhotographer: Lynsey Weatherspoon for Bloomberg Businessweek

Shauna Swearington waited tables for 23 years at the Sun Dial, a revolving restaurant atop a downtown Atlanta hotel, before getting furloughed in March 2020. A diabetic single parent putting her daughter through college, she lost her income and then her employee health insurance as the pandemic stretched a temporary layoff into months.

Her story turned her into an effective weapon against two now-former Republican U.S. senators in the Georgia runoff elections on Jan. 5.