Atlanta has 9 blue counties (Forsyth, Clayton: college, wealthy, suburbs)

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

I disagree because of a major influx of Latino that’s currently occurring on the Westside and North Atlanta Asian population is growing as well. I think the metro Population will continue to trend toward a very strong presence of four different ethnic groups.

I think we are agreeing. I said there would be a larger percentage of other groups.

[primaltech]

Republican commissioners Howard and Heard are out in Gwinnett; a couple of Democrats are replacing them on the commission (one Asian-American and one African-American).

https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt-...vvcqwmWfFbmXN/

John Heard was the one recently talking trash about MARTA. And they purposely avoided yesterday for the referendum in order to try to minimize Democratic voter turnout (as well as hurt the chances of the referendum). The former strategy didn't work- we'll see if the latter works in March.

[0nyxStation]

Originally Posted by primaltech

You can't call it a fluke this time- for the second election in a row, the Metro Atlanta counties of Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Rockdale, Douglas, Henry, and even Newton County are all Democratic majority.

And Fayette County is only a small Republican majority. Eventually that will likely be the 10th.

Gwinnett County is voting on whether to join MARTA in March '19, with a chance of the referendum passing. Cobb County might be following with their own similar referendum in November '19. And in a couple months we're going to have a truly regional, new ATL transit system, all the details of which remain to be seen.

As frustrated as Georgia good-old-boy GOP politics and social conservatism (and the humidity) makes me, there is undeniably some serious progress going on around here. We'll probably be one of the last states to legalize recreational cannabis and stuff like that, but this is not THE most embarrassing state to live in.

Even if Kemp manages to cheat and suppress his way to a narrow gubernatorial victory, I'm impressed by Abrams at least getting very close. I'm excited for Atlanta's and Metro Atlanta's and Georgia's future, even if I choose to move out of the South.

What do you think Metro Atlanta will look like in, say, 20 years? Particularly Cobb and Gwinnett counties.

Alot of West Atlanta & South Fulton is spilling into Cobb. I think Cobb will be the next Dekalb

[back2atl]

We flipped the 6th!

Karen Handel might have the highest fundraising cost per month served in history of Congress! Just a guess.

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by bu2

Beats the infinity for Osoff. He outspent her $32 million to $22 million in the special election ($24-$4 if you exclude the indirect PACs). Think she got swamped in $$s this time too (but I haven't seen the numbers-it happened in some districts). Democrats vastly outspent the Republicans this cycle. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/j...ey-in-politics

I think they were pretty much neck and neck in fundraising. Handel had the advantage in that she was very well known in the district whereas McBath struggled with name recognition even in the late stages of the race.

[Born 2 Roll]

Democrats also picked up two seats on the Cobb County Board of Education and now control 3 of 7 seats on that governing body which Republicans still control 4-3.
https://www.ajc.com/news/education/c...LfwxzyVpUGrpM/

Meanwhile, traditionally 'ruby-red' Cobb County (a.k.a. "The Center of the Republican Universe") overall continued to trend bluer in the 2018 gubernatorial election with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams winning the county by about 30,000 votes (or by almost 10 percentage points, 54%-44.6%) over Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp.

Democrats notably won the county for the first time in 40 years in the 2016 Presidential Election, when Democrat Hillary Clinton beat Republican Donald Trump in the county by about 6,800 votes (or by about just over 2 percentage points, 47.9%-45.7%).

Democrats also appear to have gained control of Cobb County's state legislative delegation after Tuesday's elections with an overall 11-10 majority. Democrats appear to now control Cobb's state House delegation with an 8-7 majority, while Democrats and Republicans appear to both be equally represented in Cobb's state Senate delegation with a 3-3 tie.


"Stacey Abrams won Cobb. But how did your neighbors vote?" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/stace...J952Y3bHWh4ZM/


"Cobb turns blue, again" (Marietta Daily Journal)
https://www.mdjonline.com/elections/...dbc95c36a.html

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Democrats also picked up two seats on the Cobb County Board of Education and now control 3 of 7 seats on that governing body which Republicans still control 4-3.
https://www.ajc.com/news/education/c...LfwxzyVpUGrpM/

Meanwhile, traditionally 'ruby-red' Cobb County (a.k.a. "The Center of the Republican Universe") overall continued to trend bluer in the 2018 gubernatorial election with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams winning the county by about 30,000 votes (or by almost 10 percentage points, 54%-44.6%) over Brian Kemp.

Democrats notably won the county for the first time in 40 years in the 2016 Presidential Election, when Democrat Hillary Clinton beat Republican Donald Trump in the county by about 6,800 votes (or by about just over 2 percentage points, 47.9%-45.7%).

Democrats also appear to have gained control of Cobb County's state legislative delegation after Tuesday's elections with an overall 11-10 majority. Democrats appear to now control Cobb's state House delegation with an 8-7 majority, while Democrats and Republicans appear to both be equally represented in Cobb's state Senate delegation with a 3-3 tie.


"Stacey Abrams won Cobb. But how did your neighbors vote?" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/stace...J952Y3bHWh4ZM/


"Cobb turns blue, again" (Marietta Daily Journal)
https://www.mdjonline.com/elections/...dbc95c36a.html

One notable Democratic legislative pick-up in Cobb County was in Georgia state Senate District 37 in unincorporated Cobb County, north, near-northwest and west of the City of Marietta, where Democrat Mary Frances Williams has appeared to defeat Republican incumbent Sam Teasley.

This defeat is notable because Republican state Representative Sam Teasley has been one of the leading proponents of highly controversial Religious Liberty legislation in the Georgia state Legislature over about the past 3-4 years.

[whodean]

It will be interesting to see how much of the swing to Democrats in the Suburbs by formerly Republican voters is fueled by anti-Trump sentiment.

Remove The Donald from the equation and I suspect many of these voters would still be voting for Republicans.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by whodean

It will be interesting to see how much of the swing to Democrats in the Suburbs by formerly Republican voters is fueled by anti-Trump sentiment.

Remove The Donald from the equation and I suspect many of these voters would still be voting for Republicans.

That's a good point but a good deal of the republicans who are running or are in power resemble the likes of trumps. As other posters have indicated, the party is becoming extremely far right and it's losing its moderates. This means republicans who are moderate, independents who were republican-leaning, and young people who tend to vote republican (more so for economic versus social), end up voting democrat because the base is too far from what they see in a leader.



I'm noticing more and more that politics in the last few years has had very little to do with the economy and more so to do with social stuff regarding race, social class, gender, etc. It's not looking good for the republican side because they really are solidifying...not sure how to describe but I know there was this thing we learned about called a "master status" and if they are not careful, they will become known as the party of bigots and once this happens, it will be almost impossible to shake.



Like I said, it would be nice to see more than just two parties. Having two parties only really hasn't done the country good.

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by Pemgin

Here's what defeated Republican state senator Fran Millar had to say about the shift in metro Atlanta:

“I predicted five years ago that, if we don’t change our ways and reach out to more people, we’re going to be just like Illinois and New York. The metro area will be blue, and the rest of the state will be red. That’s exactly the pattern we’re following.”

He's absolutely correct. Outside of some north Georgia counties with heavy Republican electorates, notably Hall, Forsyth, and Cherokee, rural Georgia is either shrinking, stagnant, or slow growing. If metro Atlanta continues to generate 80-90% of the state's growth year over year and its shift leftward continues, both of which are likely, Georgia will mirror those states that have one overwhelmingly large metropolitan area. We're in the nascent stage of that process. If trends hold, that will be the state of play in Georgia in several years.

However, the General Assembly will likely remain in Republican hands indefinitely. The Georgia electorate is so inelastic that it's very unlikely rural Georgians will ever elect Democratic state House or Senate members. Unless the parties realign ideologically, of course.

Republican vote share in Forsyth declines every election cycle because population growth here is nearly entirely from people who are not non-Hispanic White. In 2012 Romney got 82% of Forsyth’s vote. Deal got 79% in 2014. Kemp got 70%. Forsyth will remain a Republican stronghold for a while longer but the days of republicans completely dominating county politics are going to end.

You are correct that Dems won growing Georgia and republicans won shrinking Georgia. As long as republicans are predominantly the party of less-educated white people from lower population counties they’re going to be ever more dependent on a proportionately shrinking part of the state’s electorate.