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A (SUNNY) POSTCARD FROM GEORGIA
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent
 
Hello, friends!
 
We are in Savannah, a sun-kissed city shaded by protected oaks and Spanish moss. It is a place of squares and porches, where people are friendly and the style is not flashy.

• Location, location, location. More people are flocking to Savannah, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making the city one of the fastest growing parts of Georgia. One county in particular — Bryan County, which is located southwest of Savannah — is one of the fastest-growing counties in the country.
• It is a politically mixed area. Chatham (home to Savannah) and Liberty Counties have the largest numbers of voters and are deep blue; President Joe Biden won both by double digits. Around those are three other counties — Long, Bryan and Effingham — that while smaller in voters are deep red. Trump won them by massive margins, but since 2020, more progressive voters are moving in. 
• In short, Harris needs to run up the totals here to win the state, where latest polling shows Trump with a slight lead.

• It is close. Supporters of both candidates recognize the stakes in this race.
• Democrats are motivated. Kristy Edenfield, a former Republican who became a Democrat during Trump’s 2016 run (“I just couldn’t support him”), attended both candidates’ rallies. She said the people who participated in those events “were equally enthusiastic, but for different reasons,” and that Democrats here can’t pat themselves on the back for being in blue counties if they don’t win the state. 
• The stakes are deeply felt. Multiple Black women voting for Harris told us they were fearful of what would happen if Trump won. We met them and dozens of others as they made an impromptu decision to join Harris supporters waving and giving out signs near an early voting station. They said they are fearful for their personal safety and that of their loved ones.
• Republicans are motivated too. Leslie Evans opened up a Trump store in Liberty County this spring. And she has another further south, in the city of Valdosta. Though Liberty is a smaller, majority Democratic county, she said she gets dozens of customers every day. What’s at stake for her in the election? Evans said part of it is the economy. In addition to managing two Trump stores, she also works as a truck driver and concert production staff.

• Everybody feels passionately. Chris Benton is a dad who travels for work and has felt a major financial pinch in the past two years. He is not a college graduate and told us he knows people on the left who “look down on people like me who don't didn't go to college … It's all, ‘What are you doing with your life?’ and this and that. You don't get that from Trump.”
• There are reluctant Trump voters. We spoke with Eric Johnson, a Republican former state senator backing Trump out of the hope he will be a less chaotic, more focused president this time around. Johnson was a Nikki Haley supporter. When we asked him, “Do you think Trump has ever changed?”, he told us, “No, but I can hope.”  
• There are reluctant Harris voters too. Andrew L. Smith is a Black farmer who lives in Liberty County. He does not feel the Biden-Harris administration has kept its promises to him and others who have seen generations of discrimination. He is voting for Harris, but is not excited.
• A wild card. Kathryn Bauer, a Georgia Southern University senior, is firmly on the left. And she is voting for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. She said neither Trump nor Harris align with her beliefs, citing in particular her opposition to America’s support of Israel’s war in Gaza. She called it a choice between “a warmonger and a criminal.” I asked her if she worries her vote for Stein could end up helping Trump. She rejected that notion, saying, “If the Democrats wanted me to vote for their candidate, then they should have put a candidate forward that I want to vote for.” 
• There are many motivations. We met a Black woman who is a waitress at a tourist hot spot. She was likely voting for Trump because he wants to end taxes on tips. When we told her Harris does as well, she responded, “I didn’t know that!” indicating she may rethink her vote. 
• The ground game will matter. Both campaigns have operations here. With both sides highly motivated, this will be a contest decided by inches.