Now, Atlanta and its suburbs have increasingly become the center of state politics, home to a burgeoning left-leaning electorate that fueled Democratic wins in November and January and the rise of homegrown politicians such as Stacey Abrams, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Jon Ossoff while also harboring a growing number of influential Republicans.
For only the second time since World War II, both of Georgia’s U.S. senators live in metro Atlanta — specifically, diverse neighborhoods inside the Perimeter and south of I-20. And for the first time in decades, Georgia Democrats are the key decision-makers in federal agricultural policy.
The gravitational pull has also shifted the GOP closer to Atlanta in recent years, with the rise of a new wave of Republican figures rooted in the bedroom communities surrounding Atlanta. The 2018 midterms ushered in new statewide leaders who hail from Atlanta or call the region home.
The shift toward Atlanta has had a profound impact on policy over the past decade, clearing the way for new immigration crackdowns, seat belt restrictions and Sunday alcohol sales that many in rural Georgia had opposed.
“We still have some pretty powerful Republican legislators from the rural part of the state,” said Chase Daughtrey, a probate judge in Cook County, near the state line with Florida. “But Georgia’s growth is coming in the population center of Atlanta.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
And it’s left fewer politicians with a deep background in the agrarian issues that have long powered the state’s economy, even as it paves the way for new voices that shape Georgia’s biggest industry.
“The real difference is Atlanta is becoming a place where you can win a statewide election, instead of a place you couldn’t,” said Jason Carter, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2014. “The metro area has always been a powerhouse, but now it has enough power to carry the state in an election.”
The inexorable shift toward metro Atlanta isn’t altogether surprising. U.S. census figures show 60% of Georgia’s population now lives in metro Atlanta or the Athens area, accounting for roughly 6.2 million people. Georgia’s remaining 4 million-plus residents are scattered across the rest of the state.
And it mirrors the arc of Democratic politics in Georgia, as an influx of newcomers, an embrace of progressive policies and antipathy toward then-President Donald Trump turned the once solidly Republican suburbs circling Atlanta into the very bastions that cemented Joe Biden’s victory in November and GOP Senate defeats in January.
But it’s also affected Republicans, who control every statewide constitutional office and majorities in the state Legislature. All of Georgia’s constitutional officers are Republican, and all but one — Schools Superintendent Richard Woods — live in the northern third of the state.
Gov. Brian Kemp hails from Athens but lived part time in Atlanta long before he took up residence in the Governor’s Mansion. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr all live in metro Atlanta’s northern stretches.
Some of Georgia’s rural Republicans, meanwhile, are losing clout. Tom Graves, of the mountain hamlet of Ranger, was the state’s senior-most GOP member of the U.S. House delegation before he retired last year. He’s been replaced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who ran for the seat from north Fulton County and has since been stripped of committee assignments for her hateful comments.
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