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Can Harris' momentum swing battleground Georgia?

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Can Harris' momentum swing battleground Georgia?


Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Atlanta on Tuesday night was nothing if not energetic.

In fact, if you ignored all of the “Kamala” signs and the cavalcade of Democratic power players, one could have mistaken it for a concert.

The crowd of thousands packed into the Georgia State Convocation Center danced and sang along to rapper Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” before Grammy Award-winner Megan Thee Stallion took the stage to perform — and coined the phrase “Hotties for Harris.”

“We’re about to make history with the first female president, the first Black female president,” she said as the introduction to her hit 2020 single “Savage” started to play, adding: “Let’s get this done, hotties.”

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As former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms put it: “This was the energy that we desperately need to get us forward to November.”

The energy at the Atlanta event was a stark difference compared to previous campaign events featuring President Joe Biden — and, among some of the attendees, between the two campaigns writ large.

“Just seeing from everyone, there is just a strong energy here that Joe Biden wasn’t bringing,” Georgia resident Ronald Ceesay told Spectrum News. “He was in his 80s, and he was an older candidate, even if he had that strong record, he was an older candidate.”

It’s undeniable that Harris’ ascent to become the likely Democratic presidential nominee has shaken up the stagnant race for president.

Biden won Georgia over Republican Donald Trump by less than 12,000 votes in the 2020 election, but polling showed the incumbent trailing the ex-president in key battleground states, particularly following the June debate that raised questions among Democratic about his mental acuity and fitness to serve.

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But in the days since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, polling has shown the vice president has erased Trump’s lead, even overtaking him in some polls.

“I feel like [Biden] didn’t necessarily represent me as a Black woman,” said Georgia voter Tayler Louise. “I didn’t look at him and see myself and that’s usually where the pride comes in.”

“But now I’ve done a complete switch. I got on the red, white and blue,” she added. “I’m feeling a more sense of patriotism that I hadn’t felt before.”

Younger voters and Black voters will be key for Harris’ coalition if she hopes to deny Trump a second shot at the White House. Harris would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to become president. She’s also a generation younger than both Biden and Trump.

But some say she’ll need to look beyond those groups to build her coalition, working to attract voters who don’t typically vote for Democrats.

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“There’s a group of people that are disenfranchised with Donald Trump, conservative in nature, but ready to see somebody do something other than Donald Trump’s leadership style,” former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican who endorsed Biden and is now backing Harris, told Spectrum News.”

Duncan suggests that Harris speaks to “issues like immigration, border control, inflation, things that were tough for the Biden administration, talk with an articulate voice” in an effort to build a broader coalition.

Many Democrats had written Georgia off, as well as the other southern battleground state of North Carolina when Biden was in the race, but they have new hopes with Harris emerging as the party’s likely nominee.

North Carolina hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president since 2008, though it was the state Trump won with the most narrow margin in 2020. Both both states have seen population increases and changing demographics that could help Harris.

“Georgia is happy to receive all of this attention, because we are nestled and very unique in our positioning in the South,” said Tammy Greer, a professor of politics at Georgia State University. “And it brings more attention to the realities that states, and their voting patterns, are not dormant.”

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To be sure, Georgia is getting attention from both candidates, and has been since Biden’s narrow victory in 2020 and the subsequent wins by Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in January 2021, which flipped the U.S. Senate. It’s also the site of one of Trump’s four criminal cases. (Trump was indicted last year along with more than a dozen co-defendants by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, accusing them of creating a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the state’s election results in 2020; a few defendants pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, while Trump and the remaining co-defendants pleaded not guilty. The case has been mired in delays.)

Trump’s campaign says it has over a dozen fully staffed offices in Georgia, while Harris’ campaign says it has 24 coordinated offices already in the state. 

Trump and running mate JD Vance will hold a rally on Saturday where Harris held her event on Tuesday, while Harris and her yet-to-be announced running mate will rally in Savannah, Ga., next week.





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Georgia

Wynk THC seltzer coming to stores across Georgia. Here’s what we know

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Wynk THC seltzer coming to stores across Georgia. Here’s what we know


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This Thanksgiving, want something a little different to wash down your meal? If so, there’s a new beverage you might like to try.

On Wednesday, Wynk announced the statewide debut of its THC-infused seltzers. According to the company’s news release, Wynk delivers a refreshing social experience with a balanced 1:1 ratio of THC and CBD using high-quality manufacturing standards.

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The drink comes in a variety of flavors including “Black Cherry Fizz,” “Lime Twist,” “Juicy Mango,” and “Tangerine.” They come in 7.5 oz cans with 2.5mg of THC and CBD and 12 oz cans with 5mg of each. The prices are as follows:

  • 6-Pack: 2.5mg $24.99; 5mg $35.99
  • 12-Pack: 2.5mg $44.99; 5mg $67.99
  • 24-Pack: 2.5mg $89.99; 5mg $129.99

Products like these may be legally sold due to Congress legalizing hemp production in the 2018 Farm Bill, according to a press release on Georgia’s Hemp Farming Act. Hemp is a cannabis plant that naturally contains small amounts of the psychoactive cannabinoid delta-9 THC, along with other natural cannabinoids that may be used for medicinal purposes. Under Georgia’s new legislation, products that contain these kinds of ingredients are restricted those 21 and older.

Wynk is being sold in a variety of stores across Georgia like Chevron, Circle K, and BP. To find your nearest store that sells it, go to drinkwynk.com/find-in-stores.



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Jimmy Carter Christmas ornament now available at Georgia stores

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Jimmy Carter Christmas ornament now available at Georgia stores


The White House is honoring former President Jimmy Carter this Christmas with his own ornament, and Georgians can get their own for their tree.

The ornament is in the shape of an anchor, a symbol of hope that also represents Carter’s service in the U.S. Navy.

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It also features historic moments from Carter’s life and presidency and comes with a keepsake box and illustrated booklet on Carter’s presidency.

 “It is a great honor to offer the Official 2024 White House Christmas Ornament at Home Depot stores for the first time in Georgia,” said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association. “This year we pay tribute to President Jimmy Carter’s remarkable life and enduring legacy as he continues to be a fixture in our country’s ongoing history.” 

The White House Historical Association, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum/NARA)

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Shoppers can find the ornament at around 60 Home Depot stores across Georgia and in the Washington, D.C. area.

You can also buy the ornament on The Home Depot’s website.



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Georgia Senate study panel considers restrictions on trans women’s college sports participation • Georgia Recorder

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Georgia Senate study panel considers restrictions on trans women’s college sports participation • Georgia Recorder


A Georgia Senate study committee that bills itself as tasked with protecting women’s sports met Thursday for the last time before it is set to release recommendations before next year’s legislative session, and transgender Georgians are bracing themselves.

At Thursday’s hearing, transgender women and allies argued that vanishingly few transgender women participate in school sports, and those who do are largely not at the top of the competitive heap. Many said the national focus is making life difficult.

“It’s so hard to face this kind of opposition,” said Aaron Baker, a transgender woman and activist. “It’s so hard to be at a hearing like this and hear the language. It’s so hard for you to hear people describe me as a biological man because it’s not

Aaron Baker. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

true. I am hormonally female, I’m phenotypically female, I’m psychologically female, and that is a gross oversimplification of who I am and my identity, and it hurts.”

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Committee Chair Greg Dolezal, a Cumming Republican, told members he would spend the next week or so reviewing testimony from the committee’s three hearings and plans to announce the date for presenting recommendations shortly after. Study committee recommendations could take the form of proposed legislation in time for the 2025 General Assembly, which is set to begin Jan. 13.

Dolezal indicated he is interested in considering regulations for college sports. A previous hearing featured testimony from cisgender women college swimmers who said they were placed at an unfair disadvantage when they had to compete against a transgender woman at a competition at Georgia Tech.

“A few years ago, I believe it was three years ago, the General Assembly passed a bill essentially prescribing the control to make decisions around transgender participation in sports to the Georgia High School Association, they passed a resolution that stated that participation in sports, high school sports, in the state of Georgia was based on the sex prescribed on a birth certificate. The law is currently silent on the collegiate competition level. So right now, we just have a law as it relates to high school associations,” he said.

Other Republicans on the committee suggested they would like to see legislation in K-12 schools, especially surrounding restrooms and locker rooms.

“As a father of two young daughters, we’ve got to protect women,” said Gwinnett Republican Sen. Clint Dixon. “We’ve got to protect their sports, we’ve got to protect them in changing rooms from what we heard from many of those athletes who testified, four or five of them who testified in the first committee hearing, having to change, which took 20, 30 minutes at a time, in front of a transgender female, but still had the genitalia of a male, which was horrific for them to witness that, some of them ended up changing in a storage closet, some of them waited until that athlete left the room, having to miss some of their competition, and that’s just at the college level, we’re not even talking about minors in K-12.”

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Some activists indicated that they would oppose any kind of restriction on transgender participation, while speakers like Lambda Legal attorney Sasha Buchert urged the lawmakers to take a nuanced approach over a blanket ban, which could mean a committee including medical experts to consider safety or competitive concerns on a case-by-case basis. Others said such decisions should be left to athletic associations and leagues rather than politicians or political appointees.

Delfina Booth Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

“Sports are already managed by expert organizations like the NCAA, the International Olympics Committee, and professional leagues,” said Delfina Booth, a former Georgia Tech student and high school athlete who said she has lost transgender friends to police violence and suicide.

“These governing bodies have developed policies over decades that analyze fairness based on unique needs of each sport,” she added. “Contact sports have different rules than non-contact sports, children’s sports focus more on teamwork and development than adult sports, et cetera. These nuances cannot be addressed through broad government legislation. Additionally, decisions about athletic ability involve multiple complex factors, including the signs of physical development and the specific demands of each sport. These aren’t matters that lend themselves directly or easily to blanket rules.”

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