In one affluent Atlanta suburb, Biden and Trump work to win over wary Georgia voters

[Pinback]

From Atlanta public radio station WABE via the Associated Press, June 24, 2024 -
https://www.wabe.org/in-one-affluent-atlanta-suburb-biden-and-trump-work-to-win-over-wary-georgia-voters/


Suzanne Brown waves flags for Donald Trump before a ceremony to open his first Georgia campaign office, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ga. Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump are working to win over Georgia voters ahead of the pair's first 2024 debate scheduled for Thursday, June 27, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will meet for their first general election debate Thursday in Georgia, the battleground that yielded the closest 2020 margin of any state and became the epicenter of Trump’s efforts to overturn Biden’s election.

Now, in their rematch, Georgia will test which man can best assemble a winning coalition despite their respective weaknesses. Each must persuade grumpy voters in places like Fayette County, a suburb south of Atlanta, that they’re less frightening than the alternative.

(SNIP)

One of Georgia’s richest counties, Fayette has long housed retirees and Delta Air Lines workers seeking homes near Atlanta’s airport. Now it’s also a bastion of Georgia’s state-subsidized movie industry. At the Trillith development, a rapidly growing high-end town and movie studio, workers can be overheard discussing the latest Captain America movie being filmed there.

Like other Atlanta suburbs, the 120,000-resident county has been angling left. Democrats haven’t yet deposed Fayette’s Republican majority, but they got close in December 2022, when Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock won 49.5% of Fayette’s votes in defeating Republican Herschel Walker.

- more at link

This is an interesting story for many reasons. In a close election where votes from the entire state matter, Biden has a chance to erode Trump's vote total in Fayette County. It's a county Trump will still probably win, but let's hope the college-educated citizens there, as well as disaffected Trump 2020 voters, help Biden statewide.

[hlthe2b]

1. Not sure Fayette CO has/wants to move from its horrific racist past. Thus, Trump will have his majority there.

[Pinback]

3. As noted in my comments, the goal is to chisel away at Trump's county-wide majority

to help build a state-wide majority for Biden. This formula worked in numerous areas around the state to build the famous 11,780-vote margin for Biden in 2020.

Fayette Co. is somewhat schizoid, with a mix of very conservative white evangelical Christians, wealthy, college-educated residents, Delta Airlines employees, and an influx of movie & TV industry personnel (although not all of them reside in Georgia full time, of course). Part of the county is represented in Congress by Republican Drew Ferguson (District 3) and part by Democrat David Scott (District 13).

Biden/Harris won Georgia in 2020 with 2,473,633 votes to 2,461,854 for Individual 1/Fly-head, whereas the Republican ticket won the state by more than 211,000 votes in 2016.

According to usafacts.org, Fayette's non-Hispanic Black population has grown from 21,435 to 32,483 from 2010-2022, while the White population there has declined from 72,364 to 70,094 -- still a large White majority (and most of them conservative), but one that's shrinking. And in state-wide races, Dems' prospects have been picking up in Fayette County, as in other metro Atlanta counties.

Racial demographics aren't everything, as we know, but again -- in a state where picking up a few votes here and there in a lot of different counties matters, Fayette is becoming one of the counties that can make the difference for Biden in November 2024.

[hlthe2b]

4. Progress. It certainly isn't Forsythe County, so I can share your optimism, unlike with the latter.

[Silent Type]

2. Looked back at 2020, trump won but with less than 55% of vote. Most rural counties go for trump 70+%. But the

big Blue counties -- Atlanta, Savannah, Albany -- offset much of that, thank goodness.