Senator Jen Jordan (D-GA) met with her campaign team and close family and friends for an election night party at the Summerville Law Firm office in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood on Tuesday.
The crowd mixed, mingled and sipped “Jen and juice” while celebrating the state senator’s political run to become the first female attorney general representing the state of Georgia.
Partygoers began piling into the law firm at 8 p.m., some donning evening attire and others dressed more casually. The party spread across the entire ground floor of the office building and featured catering from Atlanta-based company Hire A Hostess.
The firm’s backyard was also transformed into functional event space. Guests entertained themselves with the party’s open bar situated on the far-left side of the space. Near the center of the yard, a flat-screen television broadcasted MSNBC’s election night live coverage, and guests meandered from group to group socializing with various attendees.
About two hours into the gathering, Jordan gave brief public remarks for the first time that evening. The state senator publicly thanked all attendees for showing up and for supporting her throughout the course of her political campaign.
Jordan said her race was close, but told her supporters to remain vigilant until every vote is accounted for.
“I think it’s exactly what we knew was going to happen, which was that this is going to be neck-and-neck,” Jordan said. “And, that every vote was going to matter in this election.”
The attorney general race is one of Georgia’s tightest this midterm, with Jordan trailing behind Republican opponent Chris Carr for a majority of the evening. Jordan and Carr refrained from garnering at least half of the state’s popular vote for much of the night, causing some political analysts to theorize a runoff could ensue between the two candidates in the near future.
In her remarks, Jordan also praised her campaign for performing well in smaller, rural Georgia counties on top of the counties comprising the Atlanta metropolitan area. She also noted the rise in voters voting across party lines in the state, stating this approach could work in her favor, and other candidates with close races.
“As someone from Dodge County, as someone who loves rural Georgia – even if they don’t love me,” Jordan joked. “Really going to [rural voters], really talking to them and really trying to say ‘Look, these are our values and this is what we think we can do’ [has been our campaign strategy].”
As the night grew darker and colder and races became too close to call, younger attendees remained glued to their phones, anxiously awaiting updates from poll projectors on social media platforms. Older guests congregated indoors as caterers replenished scarce food on display in a conference room. As the clock neared midnight, attendees began trickling out while others intended to stay later, hoping to receive urgent updates relating to the race.
Overall, the gathering exuded an undertone of gratitude from all parties in attendance, especially from Jordan. Before the festivities, Jordan thanked members of her staff personally with a heartfelt toast, appreciating their efforts over the course of her campaign.
As of 12:30 a.m., Carr led Jordan by six points, holding onto just over 52% of the state’s votes.If neither candidate receives a simple majority of votes, both will face a runoff in December.