Georgia

In one affluent Atlanta suburb, Biden and Trump work to win over wary Georgia voters

Published

3 months ago

June 24, 2024

In one affluent Atlanta suburb, Biden and Trump work to win over wary Georgia voters

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will meet for their first general election debate Thursday in Georgia, the battleground that yielded the closest 2020 margin of any state and became the epicenter of Trump’s efforts to overturn Biden’s election.

Now, in their rematch, Georgia will test which man can best assemble a winning coalition despite their respective weaknesses. Each must persuade grumpy voters in places like Fayette County, a suburb south of Atlanta, that they’re less frightening than the alternative.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the third consecutive time, has been convicted of felony crimes and awaits sentencing and three more criminal trials, including in Atlanta. That legal peril could exacerbate his struggles with moderate Republicans and independents, some of whom abandoned him as he helped dismantle the constitutional right to an abortion and refused to accept defeat in 2020.

Biden, the Democratic incumbent, has presided over an inflationary economy, struggled with a Middle East war that divides Democrats, and failed to resolve immigration problems along the southern U.S. border. He faces potential defections from nonwhite and younger voters.

One of Georgia’s richest counties, Fayette has long housed retirees and Delta Air Lines workers seeking homes near Atlanta’s airport. Now it’s also a bastion of Georgia’s state-subsidizedmovie industry. At the Trillith development, a rapidly growing high-end town and movie studio, workers can be overheard discussing the latest Captain America movie being filmed there.

What to know about the 2024 Election

Like other Atlanta suburbs, the 120,000-resident county has been angling left. Democrats haven’t yet deposed Fayette’s Republican majority, but they got close in December 2022, when Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock won 49.5% of Fayette’s votes in defeating Republican Herschel Walker.

“We do believe that the pathway to the presidency comes right through Fayette County this year,” said Joe Clark, chair of the Fayette County Democratic Party and a Fayetteville City Council member.

The Trump campaign on June 13 opened its first Georgia campaign office in Fayetteville.

“They want to try to flip our county,” warned Brian Jack, a former Trump aide who recently clinched the GOP nomination for a Republican-leaning congressional seat.

Statewide, Republicans say Georgia still tilts toward them. Yes, Democrats won statewide four times in Georgia, starting with Biden in 2020, continuing as Jon Ossoff and Warnock swept to twin victories in a 2021 runoff that clinched Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, and culminating in Warnock’s reelection in 2022. But GOP Gov. Brian Kemp won a second term as governor in 2022 over Democrat Stacy Abrams by a comfortable margin, sweeping down-ballot offices along the way.

Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams’ top strategist, said Democrats were slow to engage in Georgia in 2020. Both sides have been spending heavily this year.

“This is the first time since the 1990s that Georgia has been a top-tier battleground state for the presidential on both sides of the aisle, from the beginning of both campaigns,” Groh-Wargo said.

Both sides have work to do. Many voters, Democrats and Republicans, say they’re dispirited by the Trump-Biden rematch. Some say they’re not sure that they will even vote.

Robert Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid is another wildcard. Kennedy hasn’t been certified for the ballot, but he could make Georgia even harder to predict.

Some formerly solid Republicans have taken to splitting their tickets. Trump and Walker showed weakness in metro Atlanta even as Kemp remained strong.

Quentin Fulks, a southwest Georgia native who is Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager and steered Warnock’s 2022 campaign, estimates that Warnock won 9% of Republican voters.

“Candidate quality matters,” said Republican strategist Brian Robinson. Trump ignited “a real realignment” that drew working-class voters without college degrees toward Republicans, Robinson said, but has pushed away college-educated voters.

Some of those voters “still want to vote for Republicans or are willing to,” but only in the right circumstances. In Georgia’s Republican presidential primary in March, about 78,000 voters — most in metro Atlanta — voted for Nikki Haley over Trump even after Haley suspended her campaign. Haley’s total was more than six times Biden’s 2020 Georgia victory margin.

Fayette ranks seventh among Georgia’s 159 counties in voters who backed Kemp but not Walker. Haley won 13.2% statewide, but nearly 19% in Fayette County.

Rhonda Quillian, shopping at a Peachtree City farmer’s market, backed Haley. She says neither Biden nor Trump feel like an option for her. She’s considering not voting at all.

Quillian said she liked Trump’s policies after she voted for him in 2016, but soured on him, especially after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

“If he wasn’t such an egomaniac, I would vote for him in a skinny minute because of the policies,” Quillian said. “But he’s a little scary when he starts talking and he’s trying to overthrow the election and being anti-Constitution and, you know, ‘I’m the law.’ I’m sorry, no, this is a democratic republic.”

For Biden, the challenge is replicating the coalition that delivered his razor-thin margin. Responding to warnings from Georgia Democrats that he must engage with Black voters, the president has visited routinely, and Vice President Kamala Harris has made five trips to Georgia this year.

“We have to talk to Black voters in both urban and rural Georgia,” Fulks said. “That is where I start.”

Trump has boasted that he will make inroads among Black voters. Robinson acknowledged it’s unlikely Trump would get even a fifth of Black voters, but said he wouldn’t necessarily have to: Black voters typically account for about 30% of Georgia ballots. If some Black voters stay home, or Biden’s share drops even a little, Trump could benefit.

Deidra Ellington, a counselor who lives in Fayetteville, calls the choice between Biden and Trump “slim pickings.” Ellington, who is Black, says she no longer feels allegiance to either party.

“It’s almost to a point where you’re not even able to live paycheck to paycheck,” Ellington said. “You get the first paycheck, and then it’s borrowing in between before the next paycheck.”

In an April poll by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, more Democrats said Biden had hurt than helped on the cost of living and immigration. The Biden campaign has been trying to salve that pain.

“The president deeply understands what Americans are going through, and also the fact that there is more work to do,” Fulks said.

Republicans, meanwhile, aim to turn the election into a referendum on Biden’s handling of the economy.

“My pitch is, are you happy with $4 a gallon gas and $6 for a jar of mayonnaise? If you’re not, it was not like that when Trump was in office,” said Suzanne Brown, a Peachtree City Council member who has canvassed for Republicans this spring.

Democrats say they’re out-organizing Trump, aiming to turn out marginal Democrats and persuade independents and moderate Republicans to back Biden. The campaign has a dozen offices and 75 staffers statewide, including some in Fayetteville.

“I think that Trump is underestimating the power of organizing,” Fulks said.

Not so, says Republican National Committee spokesperson Henry Scavone. He says the Trump campaign has gone from zero offices to a dozen since June 13.

Republicans, aware voters are in a sour mood, are optimistic but not cocky about places like Fayette County.

“If the election were held today, Donald Trump would almost certainly win here,” Robinson said. “But the election isn’t being held today.”

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Barrow reported from Atlanta.

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Georgia

ESPN College GameDay: Picks for Week 5, Georgia at Alabama

Published

2 mins ago

September 28, 2024

Press Room

ESPN College GameDay: Picks for Week 5, Georgia at Alabama

The choice was easy for ESPN regarding their College GameDay location in Week 5, as the show took place live in Tuscaloosa on Saturday morning, ahead of the gigantic SEC clash between Georgia and Alabama.

Nick Saban returned to a grand ovation, bringing along his wife Terry Saban — known as Miss Terry — as the Celebrity Guest Picker. Aside from the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide, some of the other intense matchups the crew predicted included Louisville at Notre Dame, Illinois at Penn State and Oklahoma State at Kansas State.

Ahead of all the action taking place, the College GameDay crew locked in their Week 5 picks, with a raucous crowd of Alabama fans behind them. Here’s what Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, joined by the aforementioned Miss Terry, came up with for this weekend’s action.

ESPN College GameDay Picks for Week 5:

Georgia at Alabama: Howard got the crowd warmed up, rocking with the Crimson Tide, before Saban and Miss Terry joined hands to select Alabama in an awesome moment, “Roll Tide Roll,” they exclaimed.

Herbstreit is calling the game, so he’s not making a pick, while McAfee chose to roll with Alabama. What would Corso do? He grabbed that Big Al mascot head, and Sweet Home Alabama blared throughout the set, as the entire crew chose to roll with the Crimson Tide.

Oklahoma State at Kansas State: Oklahoma State has been slow out of the gate, can they defeat the Wildcats on the road? They don’t have any believers on Saturday, as everyone is on Kansas State.

Colorado at UCF: Miss Terry was shocked her husband picked against Coach Prime and the Buffaloes, but he wasn’t the only one, Corso and Herbstreit also believe in the Knights.

BYU at Baylor: Corso is the only believer in the Bears, rocking with Baylor to defeat the Cougars.

Illinois at Penn State: Nobody believes the Fighting Illini can pull the upset against the Nittany Lions.

Kentucky at Ole Miss: Everyone is on the Rebels this weekend over the Wildcats.

Louisville at Notre Dame: Only Saban is on the Cardinals on in Week 5.

North Carolina at Duke: Saban and McAfee are the lone dissenters, riding with the Blue Devils.

Oklahoma at Auburn: Howard and Herbstreit are on the Tigers, much to the dismay of the crowd in Tuscaloosa, but the rest of the crew are on the Sooners.

Full CGD analyst picks for Week 5:

Desmond Howard: Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Auburn

Nick Saban: Alabama, Kansas State, UCF, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Louisville, Duke, Oklahoma

Celebrity Guest Picker – Terry Saban: Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Oklahoma

Pat McAfee: Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Duke, Oklahoma

Lee Corso: Kansas State, UCF, Baylor, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Oklahoma

Kirk Herbstreit: No pick for Georgia at Alabama, Kansas State, UCF, BYU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Auburn

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Georgia

Georgia father Eric Arnold sues county who demolished family home without court hearing: ‘They took my dignity away’

Published

8 hours ago

September 28, 2024

Press Room

Georgia father Eric Arnold sues county who demolished family home without court hearing: ‘They took my dignity away’

A devastated homeowner in Georgia is suing Macon-Bibb County officials after he claimed they demolished the home he was fixing up for his family without a court hearing.

Eric Arnold bought the property in Macon, Ga. – located 90 miles southeast of Atlanta – in February 2022 for just $15,000 for himself and his children, according to local news station WMAZ.

“It’s like they just took it all away from me,” Eric Arnold the outlet. “They took my dignity away from me, like I wasn’t even a person. Like ‘You don’t even exist, we just going to do what we want. This is our town.’”

The home was supposed to be a “fixer-upper” that Arnold was renovating and eventually planned to live in, but the plans changed when a dumpster ended up on his property and his home was labeled an “imminent threat to the community.”

The county had already listed the home for demolition when Arnold purchased the home.

However, Arnold’s lawyers allege that the father was not aware and that there were no liens on the home and no public record of Code Enforcement.

It was eventually demolished in November 2023.

The demolition was part of Mayor Lester Miller’s Blight Fight launched in 2021, which aimed to remove dangerous structures from neighborhoods but Arnold insists he paid his taxes and got the permits needed in order to save the home before it was torn down.

“I did everything I was supposed to do. I thought I was okay. I wasn’t okay. They still knocked my house down,” Arnold said.

“While he still had work to do, the yard was neat, the exterior was clean, the house was locked up, and, most importantly, it was in a vastly improved state of repair compared to when he purchased it,” Arnold’s lawyer Christie Herbert wrote in a statement on her website.

Herbert claims the county “secretly sped up the demolition” after Arnold asked them to stop and remove his home from the demolition list.

All that’s left on the property now is a concrete slab at the end of a driveway and a post where the mailbox used to be.

Arnold requested to be paid back the cost of the house and the cost of renovations, according to The Macon Telegraph.

Arnold’s home is the latest casualty of renovation projects that were abruptly stopped due to the eager bulldozers in the neighborhood, according to neighbor Jerry Collins.

“There’s a lot of folks that are doing their best to bring these old houses back to life and revitalize the neighborhood. I see good things but if this keeps up, those good things may not happen and that’s what really concerns me,” Collins told the outlet.

“Eric’s lawsuit isn’t about just one man’s house, it’s about protecting the constitutional rights of all property owners in Macon-Bibb county,” Herbert said during a press conference on the empty lot where the home used to be.

According to WMAZ, the county said they haven’t seen any lawsuit yet but did release a statement about the demolished house.

“We are aware of the demolition on Sunnyvale Drive. A letter designating it as a Nuisance Per Se and blighted and that it would be torn down if not repaired was provided several years ago,” Macon-Bibb County wrote.

The statement from county officials claims the property was marked as blighted before being sold to Arnold in February 2022. They say the new homeowner had 20 months to “pull any construction permits or fix it up” but they were not made aware of any so a demolition moved forward.

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Georgia

Alabama vs. Georgia: 3 ways the Crimson Tide can beat the Bulldogs

Published

17 hours ago

September 27, 2024

Press Room

Alabama vs. Georgia: 3 ways the Crimson Tide can beat the Bulldogs

The expansion of the College Football Playoff doesn’t quite make this a “must-win game,” but… it’s a must-win game for both Georgia and Alabama, albeit for slightly different reasons.

For Georgia, it’s the first of three gigantic road tests against top-10 ranked teams that will go a long way in defining the team this season.

And for Alabama, it’s a primetime showcase for Kalen DeBoer to prove he is, at least early on, the right man to replace Nick Saban, and that he has the coaching chops to stand face-to-face with an SEC powerhouse.

So while everything isn’t on the line, plenty still is, and the loser is one very notable step back in their respective projects.

Where does that leave Alabama coming into this game? Here are the three biggest things the Crimson Tide have to do to beat Georgia on Saturday night.

Coming into DeBoer’s first season, one of the big questions on this team, including from Saban himself as an ESPN analyst, was the condition of Alabama’s back seven pass defense.

It lost two great cornerbacks in Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold and two elite safeties in Caleb Downs and Jaylen Key.

Their replacements — among them Michigan transfer safety Keon Sabb, ex-USC defensive back Domani Jackson, and 5-stars Jaylen Mbawke and Zabien Brown — have performed well, as defensive coordinator Kane Wommack has rotated personnel on the back end with varying results.

Most of them great: the defense as a whole has performed well against the pass, ranking 7th nationally in total yardage allowed, and surrendering just 52.3 percent completion from opposing passers while allowing a remarkable 3.2 yards per attempt, the best mark in FBS.

Georgia has some agile speedsters for Beck to throw to, including Dominic Lovett and Arian Smith, but so far this receiving corps does appear to have regressed in the absence of Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey.

It’s no secret that Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is a big dual-threat, but DeBoer has been a little more aggressive in exploiting that mobility than Saban was at this time last season.

The results have boosted the Tide’s offensive capacity when it comes to big plays. One of the nation’s best rushing quarterbacks, Milroe has 156 yards this year and 2 rushing scores in each of the last 3 games, already 50 percent of his rushing TD total from a year ago.

And while Alabama has been fine-tuning its repertoire of explosive plays, Georgia’s defense, suffocating in just about every phase, has looked vulnerable in limited exposure against mobile quarterbacks. Kentucky’s Brock Vandagriff was able to average almost 8 yards per carry against it.

Milroe’s game is far from limited to his legs: 5 of his 8 passing touchdowns are longer than 20 yards, the best mark among any quarterback in the nation.

But his ability to keep the Bulldogs’ scrimmage tacklers a half-step behind with a battery of improvised runs, and the ability to extend plays to spread them out and give his receivers that much-needed extra second to break out of their coverages, will be critical.

Kirby Smart has preferred to build his Georgia offenses out from the running game, hoping to control the line of scrimmage initially and using that strength to open things up downfield later on.

But that strategy could run into some trouble as No. 2 running back Roderick Robinson is expected to miss the game, guard Tate Ratledge is injured, and Alabama’s front seven looks ready to pounce.

Georgia’s ground attack sputtered against Kentucky as the team managed under 4 yards per carry, and on the year it ranks just 84th nationally with 145 yards per game on average.

The lack of an articulated run-blocking scheme could bring back memories of when the Bulldogs ran for just 2.5 yards per touch in the SEC title game last year. Advantage, Alabama.

More … How Georgia can beat Alabama

And … Georgia vs. Alabama score prediction by expert model

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