HINESVILLE ― Saleyah Moten and the rest of the Liberty County High School cheerleaders were prepped to cheer on Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The Democratic nominees for president and vice president, Harris and Walz paid an after-school visit to the coastal Georgia campus Wednesday as part of a campaign bus tour. The stop was a pep rally of sorts, complete with the football team, marching band and cheerleaders.
But the celebration was on a tight schedule, and when the band’s welcoming song ran long, the cheerleaders’ routine got cut.
“That was OK with me; the whole thing was pretty nerve-racking, and we cheered while the band played,” said Moten, a ninth-grader with a bright smile and long braids. “It’s an experience I’ll always remember. Once in a lifetime.”
The visit, the location of which was kept under wraps by the campaign, thrilled many in this rare southeast Georgia Democratic stronghold. State Rep. Al Williams, a Democrat from nearby Midway, called it the “best day of my life.”
As locals began to notice the increased law enforcement presence in the area early Wednesday afternoon and word leaked out the bus tour would stop at the school, a few curious onlookers joined a handful of media members at a veterinary clinic across the road from the campus.
Meredith Woods was among them. The young mother came with her daughter and a politically like-minded neighbor to show her support for Harris and Walz. She said her neighborhood, located a few miles from the school, is one where campaign signs for Harris’ opponent, Republican Donald Trump, are a favorite yard decoration.
But she said Harris has countywide support and expects Liberty County to go blue in November. By choosing to visit the area as part of the bus tour, Harris and Walz showed local Democrats they matter.
“Our generation, in particular, is ready to show up and show out for Harris,” she said.
Liberty County is a demographic outlier in coastal Georgia. The county’s median age is under 30, a statistic influenced by the tens of thousands of military members and their families stationed at Fort Stewart, the sprawling 280,000-acre U.S. Army base. Liberty is also a majority-Black county and frequently elects Democrats for local and state offices.
Democrats seeking federal office typically win the county vote as well. President Joe Biden won Liberty with 61% of the vote in 2020, making it more solidly Democratic than the much more urban Chatham County, home to Savannah.
Liberty residents were quick to point out Wednesday that the county often sees high-profile political visitors — but those calls are typically confined to Fort Stewart. President Barack Obama visited in 2012, as did President George W. Bush in 2001. Earlier this year, the president of Poland toured the post to thank troops for their service in his country as part of the NATO response to Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
What stood out about Harris’ and Walz’s visit was that they ventured beyond the fort’s gates. Moten, the Liberty County cheerleader, said she was struck by Harris emphasizing to her and her classmates that they are the nation’s future.
“We hear stuff like that all the time,” she said. “Coming from her, it just means more.”
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