This article was produced by Capital & Main. Published in association with Rolling Stone With permission.
In 2020, Donald Trump lost Georgia to Joe Biden by 11,779 votes out of nearly 5 million cast in the state, one of the closest races in that election.
Since that time, Khokha State has seen an increase in extreme heat days, rising sea levels and frost damage to crops. Voters have become more concerned about climate change – with 76% of registered voters now supporting congressional climate action.
This time, with voters divided in the battleground state between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, climate activists are determined to make sure their concerns help tip the election in favor of Harris, whose policies are seen as more climate-friendly than those of the United States. Former President.
Nearly half a million Georgia voters who expressed concerns about climate change but did not vote in the last two elections are now being targeted by the Environmental Voter Project. The vast majority of voters in this group (88 percent) are between 18 and 34 years old, and nearly half are black.
Of all the states, “Georgia has the highest number of low-propensity climate voters,” said Nathanie Stinnett, director and founder of EVP, a nonpartisan organization that because of its focus on climate tends to mobilize more Democratic voters. The group has been targeting young voters in the state through door-to-door screenings, phone calls, direct mail and social media.
According to EVP polls, 40% of young voters in five hotly contested states, including Georgia, will only support candidates who prioritize climate change — a “deal breaker” for them. 40% said they prefer candidates who make tackling climate change a priority.
“Young voters are seeing increases in extreme weather events in Georgia and rising their electricity bills driven largely by fossil fuel costs, and point to the need for increased investment in climate and solar technology,” said Marcus Cole, director of church engagement. and a connection with the Evangelical Environmental Network and a former political candidate.
Beyond Harris' entry into the presidential race in late July, mobilizing climate-focused voters could make a difference. Before the first debate in June, Trump was leading President Biden — who was then the presumptive Democratic nominee — by five points in Georgia. He now leads Harris by just 2.5 points, which is within the margin of error and statistical parity.
Black voters in that 18- to 34-year-old age group shifted eight points toward Harris, said Connie Di Cicco, political director of Conservation Voters of Georgia, which tries to canvass for climate-friendly candidates. “That's a huge number, and young Black voters who identify climate change as a priority are more likely to vote than others in that demographic who don't see it as a priority.”
Groups like Black Voters Matter have focused on attracting young voters in Georgia and other states, visiting dozens of college campuses and enrolling thousands of students so far this year. Climate is a major issue for these students, said Venica Miller, national field director for Black Voters Matter. From urban areas like Atlanta, where students struggle with water quality and flooding issues, to Payne College, “where air quality is an issue,” “they are learning how climate and environmental justice impacts their daily quality of life and their own lives,” she said. Pocket books and link them to the ballot and who has political power.
Georgia is not a fossil fuel-producing state, so its energy and climate discussions are less about the local economy and jobs and more about the affordability and reliability of electricity. Recently, climate activists lost two major battles over the state's largest utility, Georgia Power, which gets only about a tenth of its energy from renewable sources, such as solar, biomass and hydropower. Lawmakers extended the terms of members of the utility's regulatory body, the Public Service Commission, thwarting efforts to elect a slate of clean energy supporters. Republican Gov. Bryan also vetoed a bill to temporarily stop tax breaks for data centers, which put so much pressure on the state's power grid that the commission had to approve new gas-fired power plants, raising rates for residents in the process. Kemp.
“You would think there would be more outrage and concern about climate and climate politics, and the relationship between politics and climate change,” said Larry Heyman, vice president of the Dunwoody Sustainability Commission in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody.
Recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency rejected a Georgia Power Company's plan to allow coal ash to remain in groundwater at some of its plants, highlighting an environmental justice issue. Georgia is one of the largest coal ash producing states, releasing more than 6 million tons of ash, causing air and water pollution. Low-income residents and people of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods close to coal-burning plants in the state.
“It is abundantly clear to me that climate change is amplifying other existing economic and social vulnerabilities,” said Patricia Yaeger of the Georgia Climate and Community Initiative. “But I've never seen climate as the first thing that comes to mind when I talk to people about their basic concerns about their quality of life. They talk about health concerns, which can be exacerbated by heat or smog. If you talk to them about their energy bills, we find High energy burdens in some of the most affected urban neighborhoods.
The focus on climate has combined with religious faith among some voters in the heavily populated Southern Baptist area.
Cole, the director of church engagement, points to significant support among registered voters (75%) for clean energy projects, many of which have recently been funded through federal programs like the Reducing Inflation Act, Biden's signature climate legislation. The state leads the nation in the number of clean energy projects launched since the Rebuild Act was passed in 2022 with more than $15 billion invested in 28 projects, creating 15,723 jobs.
Cole hopes that tide is beginning to turn, pointing to the fact that both Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff are vying for credit on several renewable energy projects in the state. Some projects, including a QCells facility outside Dalton that the company claims is the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the Western Hemisphere, have drawn praise from hard-line conservatives such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“The Christian value of ‘loving your neighbor’ can be a motivating force to change the narrative in the state from a divisive political rhetoric of ‘going purple’ to a unified, values-based vision of ‘going green,’” Cole stressed.
