Fewer than 200 people live in Junction City, a small town about a dozen miles east of Columbus, but with such thin margins in the Peach State, campaigns can’t afford to ignore rural Georgians.
In 2020, Biden won Georgia over then-President Donald Trump by just 11,780 votes. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will kick off a two-day bus tour through South Georgia to target rural voters.
“I don’t believe that what Vice President Harris is seeing in California or Washington, D.C., is going to be very much like what she’s going to see in southeast Georgia,” said Democratic state Rep. Debbie Buckner of Talbot County.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Sen. Raphael Warnock and senior Harris-Walz campaign official Quentin Fulks spoke on “Politically Georgia” about campaigning outside metro Atlanta. Buckner agrees with the strategy.
“I think in most of rural Georgia there are still big pockets of independent voters,” said Buckner on “Politically Georgia” Wednesday. “They want to be seen. They want to be heard. This is not a new phenomenon.”
Buckner said farming is a significant issue in her area.
“Everything in the rural area generally goes back to agriculture in some kind of way. In fact, it does anywhere, because everywhere we go, we want to eat,” she said.
Candidates have to come down with a listening ear, Buckner said.
“She’s got to go down there not knowing the answer and seeking the answer,” she said. “And I think a good attorney knows how to do that.”
Democrats have work to do to get uncommitted voters with concerns about the Israel-Hamas War back under their tent.
During the Democratic National Convention, the Uncommitted National Movement pushed to have a Palestinian speaker address the war in Gaza. State Rep. Ruwa Romman, the only Palestinian-American in the Georgia General Assembly, was privy to those negotiations.
“Two weeks ago, I flagged the campaign, letting them know that if the intention is to draw a big tent, they should please make sure they have a Palestinian speaker,” she said. “The idea was that our party could be the place of both the family members of an Israeli hostage and Palestinians who were experiencing intense loss.”
Credit: Shannon McCaffrey
Credit: Shannon McCaffrey
At the DNC, parents of Israeli-American hostage spoke. However, negotiations fell apart as the Uncommitted Movement pushed for a Palestinian-American to take the stage in Chicago.
“To be very clear, we still don’t know why they (the DNC) said no. We’re still in the dark,” said the Duluth Democrat on “Politically Georgia.”
Voters closely watching this global conflict could be key to Democrats winning Georgia. In March, more than 6,000 Georgians left their ballots blank in the presidential primary to warn the Biden administration about this issue.
At this point in the election cycle, Romman maintained that she would like to see the Biden-Harris administration condition providing weapons to Israel on a cease-fire.
Regardless of her issues with the Biden-Harris administration, Romman said she would not vote for former President Donald Trump.
“My argument is this. We (Democrats) won the state by 11,780 votes. There are 76,000 registered Muslim voters,” she said. “I’m arguing for us to be able to bring those voters back into the fold.”
Thursday on “Politically Georgia”: State Sen. Derek Mallow joins the show to preview Harris’ rally in Savannah. Then Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper offers the Republican response to the Harris campaign. And state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes talks about the state election board.
