Donald Trump:
Money Raised in Georgia: $60,728*
Total Contributions: 151*
Number of Offices/Paid Staff: Five paid staffers in four campaign offices in East Cobb County, Evans, Savannah and Valdosta.
Notable Endorsements: Atlanta Tea Party Founder Debbie Dooley; Former state Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart; Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald Jr.
Recent Visits: Trump drew thousands of supporters to a Feb. 21 rally at the Georgia World Congress Center.
*Source: Federal Election Commission Reports through Dec. 31, 2015
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution continues to to profile Georgia volunteers working for presidential candidates in the state. Today, we look at the three leading Republicans in the race - Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. To read profiles of volunteers for Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders go to myajc.com
Jermane Enoch likes to fire up his fellow volunteers at the Georgia campaign headquarters for Donald Trump.
A 56-year-old veteran of political campaigns, Enoch giddily weaves through the Republican presidential candidate’s office in eastern Cobb County, asking the group how they are doing, dispensing advice and cheering them on.
“I really like the energy,” Enoch, a trainer for the campaign, said recently as he surveyed a humming room of volunteers. Then — raising his hands in the air — Enoch enthusiastically recited a Trump campaign slogan: “We are going to make America great again!”
A native of Cincinnati and gregarious father of three grown children, Enoch is a snappy dresser with a red bow tie and a salt and pepper mustache. On a recent weekday before the South Carolina primary he is training fellow volunteers to use the phone system and helping coordinate Trump’s efforts in Cobb County, a critical GOP stronghold.
Like Trump — who contributed heavily to Democrats for years — Enoch has crossed party lines. Before moving to Marietta, he worked in both Republican and Democratic campaigns in Ohio . He said he voted mostly for Republicans in past presidential elections, though he picked Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1992 contest. Still for Enoch, who is black, the decision not to back Barack Obama for president caused some tension among his relatives, most of whom voted for the Democrat.
He said some of his conservative values come from his grandparents and his Christian faith. He attends Mount Paran Church of God in Marietta.
But for Enoch — who has taught college business courses and done project management and organizational development work for companies — Trump’s appeal is his pro-business, low-tax approach. Enoch sees those issues directly tied to keeping unemployment low and families stable. Enoch also likes Trump’s support for U.S. military veterans.
“What I love about Trump is his business skills,” he said. “I see Trump as a change agent. He is a person who gets results.”
Enoch is among hundreds of unpaid volunteers working for Trump’s campaign in the Peach State, said Brandon Phillips, the real estate mogul’s Georgia campaign director. Phillips, who is one of five paid Trump campaign workers spread across Georgia, said the campaign has grass-roots organizers working in all 159 counties.
Those workers have been busy. Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Trump’s Georgia campaign made 2,500 calls to voters, Phillips said.
“People who don’t think we have a ground game will be surprised,” said Phillips, the former executive director of the Fulton County Republican Party and who was Republican Mitt Romney’s state director in Georgia in 2008.
Phillips then proudly showed a visitor a YouTube video of a crowded Farmers for Trump rally from Feb. 4 in Sasser, northwest of Albany. At one point in the video, a formation of crop dusters flew overhead. And supporters sang “Don’t be a chump, vote for Trump.”
Of the volunteers flocking to Trump’s campaign, 180 alone are focusing on vote-rich Cobb County, said Claire Harrison, who is managing Trump’s efforts there. Twenty-five new volunteers are showing up each week to help out in Cobb, she said.
“That is growth I can barely manage,” said Harrison, a former Cobb County Republican Party official.
Harrison works in a bustling campaign office overlooking the construction of the new Atlanta Braves stadium in Cobb. One recent weekday morning, she sat with a half a dozen other campaign workers in a conference room complete with a large U.S. flag and a picture of Trump holding two thumbs up. Next to a large flat screen TV constantly streaming Fox News, a note on a dry erase board instructed the volunteers to “Be Polite Always.”
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