ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Georgia was again among the most important states on the map for both presidential contenders this year.
In 2020, it went blue for the first time in decades, and many Republicans wondered over the last four years if Georgia was truly a swing state. Many of Trump’s most ardent supporters felt vindicated after the results went final Tuesday night.
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Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.
“We’ve been waiting all night for this, in fact, we’ve been waiting for four years for this,” said Trump voter Gray Campbell at the Georgia Republican watch party in Buckhead. “Somebody that has been shot at twice, somebody who has been a victim of accusations that are not true, somebody who’s been the victim of so many different things and he’s come above all of it.”
The tumultuous election season included two attempted assassinations of Trump, a dizzying election interference indictment involving the president-elect in Fulton County and a mid-campaign switch-up that replaced President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris, who had only 107 days to campaign.
“It was a great win. It was an historic win, but he earned it too, that man worked his tail off,” said Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. “I am surprised about the overwhelming victory that he had. I mean, he won all swing states. He won the popular vote.”
Jones has been one of Trump’s most fervent supporters and surrogates in the Peach State dating back to 2016, when Jones co-chaired Trump’s Georgia operation before doing it again in 2020. He was one of the few people to speak with Trump on Tuesday night, where he promised to help vet Georgia individuals Trump might be considering for his White House staff.
“After he won he just kind of said, ‘Look, I’m never going to forget this, I appreciate all your help,’” said Jones. “I can’t believe the energy that the president has. He is absolutely – it’s something like I’ve bever seen. He’s like a machine.”
State Democrats were left pondering what went wrong this year. They’ll have to go back to the proverbial drawing board before a 2026 election cycle that includes a race for Georgia governor and one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats.
“I think it’s a wake-up call for us Democrats to retool, to refine our message,” said state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta. “As a party, we need to take that feedback back. We have to do a lot of listening now and learn from it and retool because we have big elections coming up in ‘26.”
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