In 2020, Georgia voted to send Joe Biden to the White House, flipping a state that Donald Trump comfortably carried in 2016 and no Democrat had won since 1992.
A few weeks later, the state's voters sent a pair of Democrats to represent them in the U.S. Senate, ousting two Republican incumbents, giving Georgia its first Black and Jewish senators and marking the first time since 1994 that a state's senate delegation flipped from one party to the other entirely in the same election cycle. (Warnock won a full term in 2022 against Republican candidate Herschel Walker, the only statewide Democrat to win in Georgia during the midterms that year.)
While much credit for the historic victories was attributed to a population boom in the metro Atlanta area, Georgia state Sen. Derek Mallow, a Democrat, said some recognition must be given to the southern part of the Peach State as well.
“Right here in Chatham County, to be exact, we increased in 2020 over 2016, 10,000 votes, to go out for President Biden," Mallow told Spectrum News, noting that Biden only won the state four years ago bt less than 12,000 votes. "So it’s a testament to the work that we do, not only in Chatham County but South Georgia, is that we can deliver the state of Georgia for Vice President [Kamala] Harris.”
Harris, now the Democratic nominee, is looking to continue to build on that momentum with her bus tour through South Georgia this week.
Harris said during a stop on Thursday that she will unveil a proposal next week to give tax credits to small businesses while on a campaign stop at a local market in Savannah, Georgia.
“What I’m going to be rolling out next week is basically a tax credit for startups, small business startups.” Harris told the owners of Dottie’s Market.
It comes just weeks after Harris laid out her first major policy proposal as the Democratic nominee for president in North Carolina, where she called for a ban on price gouging in the food and grocery industries and pledged to build 3 million homes to address the housing shortage.
After visiting Dottie’s, Harris stopped by a volunteer appreciation event at The Grey, a local restaurant in downtown Savannah, where she thanked those in attendance, including members of the United Food and Commercial Workers labor union, for “doing the work on the ground.”
“There’s so much that has happened in our country that makes people feel like they’re alone or they’re not seen,” she said.
The bus tour in the Savannah area on Wednesday included stops at band practice at Liberty County High School in Hinesville and Sandfly Bar-B-Q. She also sat with CNN for an interview with Harris and running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Mallow said that Democrats have continued to build upon the momentum that elected Ossoff and Warnock and that they are “locked in” for Harris in November.
“The ground game the Democrats have is one to be envied. We're going to knock on the doors, we're going to talk to everybody, we'll leave no stone unturned,” he said, adding that he believes Harris’ “affiliation to the Divine Nine, being a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, being, a black Asian candidate for president of the United States creates an energy around where folks haven't seen representation.”
The Harris campaign has said they have over 190 Democratic coordinated campaign staff in 24 offices across the state, “from rural counties like Washington and Jenkins counties to the outer Atlanta metro counties that are rapidly shifting, including Forsyth and Fayette.” They shared that recent organizing events have had more than 300 people turn out in Forsyth County, which Trump won in 2020.