Georgia was one of the most, if not the most, important states in this past election as it was one of the major swing states during the Presidential election. This was seen for not only the Presidential election but also the Senate, with Georgia now having two Democratic senators, a very stark contrast from the 2016 election where Republicans edged out the Democrats in the Senate and Trump had a 5% lead.
So why is Georgia, a state that has been won by Republicans for 30 years, turning blue? The main factor leads back to population, and according to a study done by Pew Research in 2020 Georgia’s voter population grew by 1.9 million since 2000 and African Americans accounting for almost half of that.
Joe Biden won the state with 49.5%, which was considerably larger than when Obama and Biden got 47% in 2008. The main reason for this was not only about diversity but also because the number of Caucasians that voted Democrat increased in the last 4 years, both rural Georgia and all of the Atlanta area turning blue. No matter the candidate, these last 8 years the amount of counties that Democrats have won has increased.
Mainly people think Atlanta is the only one steering the ship but the area outside Atlanta is just as vital on what Georgia votes, with almost every county increasing from 10% or more in democratic votes from 2016 to now, without the outside counties, the win in Georgia would not be possible.
Even though Democrats have won both the senate Seats and Georgia’s presidential votes this does not mean that they are completely blue, with the Republican party winning the majority of US House seats. Although Representative Lucy Mcbath won a seat that was held for decades by Republicans prior, and won the reelection; Carolyn Bourdeaux also flipped a House seat.
Although they are not completely blue yet, Democrats winning the Senate seats is still very impactful as it gives a 50/50 split in the Senate, meaning Kamala Harris chooses as the Majority Leader of the Senate.
Stacey Abrams, a former seat in the US House, was also a catalyst for why Democrats are doing so well. She created a group called the New Georgia Project, which encouraged people of color to register to vote. Her political advisor even released “The Abrams Playbook” which gave reasons why Democrats should be focused on the Atlanta area and Georgia as a whole.
Prior to the Republican reign from the 1970s onwards, Democrats ran Georgia and now it seems they are trying to keep it that way with Jacquelyn Bettadapur, who is a chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Cobb County stating, “There’s no going back”.
Georgia is not completely blue yet, but rather in the middle right now. From the trend, we have been seeing it seems that Georgia will become a democratic state but it is still possible that it will return to being a majority Republican state.
So why does all of this matter to California? In the past Georgia has been a swing state and if it is true that Georgia is going blue for good this means that all the states that usually vote Democrat would equal up to 229 electoral votes, (without accounting the 13 battleground states, excluding Georgia) giving Democrats more of an advantage from the start of the race.
Democrats gaining seats in Georgia for the Senate would allow closing the gap and the US House would be able to keep its Democratic lead. Whichever way you look at it, Georgia’s political climate has a major impact on the United States’ entire political climate.
