Yang says he helped win Georgia for Democrats. Some activists beg to differ.

But activists on the ground in Georgia paint a more complex picture of Yang’s involvement: that of a man who clearly leveraged his celebrity for the sake of a razor thin Democratic victory — and energetically so — but who may have exaggerated his activity and impact on the race. “We were on the f---ing ground” for years, said Linh Nguyen, the leader of the RUN AAPI voter outreach campaign and the former Georgia Democrats Coalitions director for Asian American and Pacific Islander outreach. “Anyone who understands what it takes to win campaigns knows, it's going to be more than speaking opportunities. It's more than dropping in with a couple of months to go. This is long term organizing infrastructure.” At least one of Yang’s rivals in the Democratic mayoral primary also questioned his claims. During the first official debate in May, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams — now the frontrunner — said it was “appalling” that Yang would take credit for the work of “Stacey Abrams and those Black women who organized on the ground.”