Politics

Debate Signals Georgia’s Electorate May Be At A ‘Turning Point’

November 19th, 2019

Former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington in November. Growth and urbanization has made Georgia’s population younger, less native to the state and less white. That, combined with President Donald Trump’s struggles among previously GOP-leaning white college graduates, has put Georgia on the cusp of presidential battleground status. The question is how close.

Michael A. McCoy / AP file

Beth Moore would typically fit the mold of a Georgia Republican. She attended private school in the affluent, mostly white northern Atlanta suburbs, attended the University of Georgia, practices law and married a Republican.

But the 37-year-old is part of a class of 17 Democratic House freshmen in the state legislature, elected last year in an urban and suburban surge that nearly put Stacey Abrams in the governor’s mansion. Despite Abrams’ defeat, Moore believes that other Democratic victories, including hers, represent a “new Georgia” that will be on display as 10 Democratic presidential candidates descend on the state this week for the Wednesday debate at actor Tyler Perry’s Atlanta film complex.

“Georgia is at a turning point,” Moore said. “We have enjoyed a lot of economic success over the years that has kept native-born Georgians here and has attracted new Georgians from all over the country and all over the world. Those years of success have led to a new voting bloc in the South that is hungry for change.”