ATLANTA – Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado: these were once perennial swing states. Now, a new pack of battlegrounds is emerging, including Georgia.
Two years ago, Democratic candidates for president and Senate won Georgia for the first time in years. Then this November, Republicans swept every statewide race except for the Senate, where Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock prevailed in a runoff last week.
So does this mean Georgia has arrived as a purple state, or at least a competitive one?
"We are absolutely here to stay," says Rebecca DeHart, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia. "How many more cycles do we have to win to prove it?"
On the heels of Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia by about 12,000 votes, the Democratic party is working to make Georgia an early primary state in 2024. Atlanta is also a finalist to host the next Democratic National Convention. DeHart says Warnock's runoff win further solidifies Georgia's place among the country's premier battleground states.
"Georgia Democrats have always said our state will play a critical role in the national political landscape for years to come, and our state has been prioritized as such," DeHart says.
Though Andra Gillespie, a professor of political science at Emory University, says pinpointing Georgia's political hue is still complicated. She thinks Georgia's electorate is not quite purple – maybe pink or lavender.
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