A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Georgia, where our All Things Considered colleague Mary Louise Kelly is spending this week talking with voters, hearing what's on their minds, is part of NPR's We, The Voters series. Both the Harris and Trump campaigns see Georgia as key to winning the White House. It has more electoral votes than all but seven states. Mary Louise is in her hometown of Atlanta. Mary Louise, so clearly, Georgia carries a lot of weight, but how swingy is it?
MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE: Good morning, A. It's pretty swingy. I mean, anything could happen, of course, between now and November. But it is close, and especially when you bear in mind that this is a state that for decades was deep, deep red, like Georgia clay, and surprised a lot of folks by flipping for Biden in 2020. I will tell you, you feel it when you land here. You spot the number of yard signs and billboards and the political ads nonstop on TV. And you see it - the candidates rolling through town. JD Vance was here in Atlanta last night. Tim Walz is in Macon this morning, heading up to Atlanta this afternoon.
Meanwhile, there are lawsuits flying here to do with recent rule changes from the state election board. These are changes to do with how the election will get certified or how we hope it will get certified and whether those results will get held up. The big question is, are we going to know who won Georgia?
MARTÍNEZ: Right. Now, when Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and Kamala Harris jumped in, I mean, how much did that shake things up in Georgia?
KELLY: Significantly. It put Georgia back in play. And I heard that directly yesterday from LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter. That's a officially nonpartisan group. I want to play you a part of that interview. This is - I asked her the question you just asked me - how much Biden dropping out shook things up. Here's her answer.
LATOSHA BROWN: You know, it's been a 180-degree turn. It's interesting. Young people, in particular, have tapped back in - that what we saw in this election cycle - I always, as a temperature check - I use a story around my niece. My niece called me. She was very critical of President Biden and his policy of what was happening in Gaza and was telling me that she didn't feel like voting. She didn't think she was going to vote this year. There was nothing that I could do to convince her. And ironically, you know, the day that President Biden pulled out of the race and then endorsed Vice President Harris, she called me, super excited, and said, auntie, auntie, I want to work. What can I do?
KELLY: Ah. And she's how old?
BROWN: She's 23.
KELLY: When you are out knocking on people's doors or at a rally here in Georgia - understanding there's a huge variety of views - but what are the top, say, one or two things people tell you are on their mind?
BROWN: I think one concern is that people do believe that Trump is a threat - a threat to democracy. But we understand what a bully looks like. The second thing that constantly comes up is that people really want change. Economically, when you look at the issues, the top three issues that come up all the time are, one, around economic security.
And that looks very different. They don't consider - when we're talking to voters, Black voters in particular, they're not talking about, well, this is what America's GDP is doing. What means something to them is, what are the material changes in my day-to-day life? You know, am I able to afford to live the way that I want to live? Am I able to save? How much does bread, milk and meat cost, right?
KELLY: So that's LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter. And you heard her there identifying, by the way, a key challenge for Harris. Voters say they want change. How are you going to convince them you are the change candidate when you're the sitting vice president?
MARTÍNEZ: Just a few seconds. Who else are you going to talk to?
KELLY: We are talking to young voters, as she just mentioned. We're going to hang tonight with young Republicans. We're going out to - with young Democratic organizers, working to get out the vote. We're going door-knocking. We're going to head to the state capitol today. And the central question on my mind is, how are state officials here working to convince Georgians to have faith in the integrity of their election?
MARTÍNEZ: All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly in Atlanta - thanks.
KELLY: You are welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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