Dawson County
2014 population estimate: 22,957
Population, percent change — April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2014: 2.8 percent
Male: 50.1 percent
Female: 49.9 percent
White: 96.4 percent
Black: 0.9 percent `
High school graduate or higher: 85.8 percent
Bachelor’s degree or higher: 24.4 percent
Median value of owner-occupied homes: $186,000
Per-capita income: $27,330
Median household income: $53,525
Percent below poverty level: 15.6 percent
Land area in square miles: 210.83
Top employers: Caretenders Visiting Services, Gold Creek Foods, Home Depot, Impulse Manufacturing, J Crew Factory Store, Michael Kors Retail
DeKalb County
2014 population estimate: 722,161
Population, percent change — April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2014: 4.4 percent
Male: 47.5 percent
Female: 52.5 percent
White: 36.7 percent
Black: 54.8 percent `
High school graduate or higher: 88.4 percent
Bachelor’s degree or higher: 39.7 percent
Median value of owner-occupied homes: $168,900
Per-capita income: $28,810
Median household income: $50,856
Percent below poverty level: 19 percent
Land area in square miles: 267.58
Top employers: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, DeKalb Medical Center, Emory Healthcare, Emory University, Georgia Perimeter College, Publix Super Markets
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia Department of Labor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed 18 years’ worth of statewide primary elections to see which counties have the best record of picking winners in partisan races. For Republicans, that’s Dawson, and for Democrats, it’s DeKalb. Here’s a closer look at both.
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Trump a huge part of the conversation in Dawson County
Overwhelmingly white and Republican, Dawson County has voted for the winning candidate in 55 of the 59 statewide GOP primaries held in Georgia since 1996, making it Georgia’s top Republican bellwether. Even when the county misses, it sometimes still gets it right.
For example, in 2010, the county went for Nathan Deal in the party’s gubernatorial primary, even though Karen Handel was the top vote-getter. But in the runoff between the two candidates, Dawson went again for Deal, who is now in the middle of his second term in office.
Dawson County, where the Appalachian Trail begins, is a county in flux. It is 40 miles from the city of Atlanta to the southern Dawson border, and the inevitable creep of the northern suburbs is reaching this predominantly rural county. But, other than a commercial explosion around the North Georgia Premium Outlet center on Ga. 400, the rural way of life still dominates.
Dawson County was once the center of the NASCAR world when local boy Bill Elliott was winning championships on his way to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. At the Dawsonville Pool Room, Elliott memorabilia fills glass cases lining the walls and newspaper clippings chronicle every one of his 44 victories in NASCAR’s top circuit.
Owner Gordin Pirkle, 79, who once had his photograph in Sports Illustrated, is dapper and silver-haired. He said much of the conversation around the pool room, which is really more a meat-and-three restaurant than pool hall, centers on billionaire New Yorker Donald Trump.
“It’s hard to figure out,” he said during a recent lunch rush. “I hear more of Trump than I do any of the rest of them.”
Lunch specials this day were fried fish with hush puppies, hamburger steak or chicken tenders. No one was playing on the one pool table while Carol Grogan, 49, took orders and delivered platters of food.
Waitresses hear a lot, she said.
“I’ve got my little breakfast club that meets here,” she said. “They’re not a fan of gun control. They think it’s going to interfere with their right to carry a pistol.”
The wife of the Dawsonville mayor, Grogan said things are looking up in the city.
“They’re working on a plan to revitalize downtown and are going to build a park by City Hall,” she said. “Lots of things are happening.”
Like her boss, Grogan said her customers talk a lot about Trump.
“He says what he means,” she said. “He doesn’t do political double talk. He says what’s on his mind. I’m not sure that they trust him to be president. When it comes down to it, probably (Marco) Rubio. Generally, I like Trump.”
State Rep. Kevin Tanner, a local Republican, said he isn’t surprised to hear the Trump talk. The billionaire reflects a sentiment many voters are expressing, Tanner said.
“There’s a general sense of dissatisfaction with Washington,” Tanner said. “People in Dawson County are smart enough to look for real solutions. They’re tired of political talk and what occurs in Washington.”
His constituents want “real solutions to bring people together, not always divide everyone.”
“The average person in Dawson has what is not common anymore,” Tanner said, “and that’s common sense.”
Trump offers an outsider’s perspective and speaks the language of the average voter, said Raymond Sellers, 69.
Sellers, who drives a truck, said Trump “tells it like it is for a working man.”
“He talks like a working man even though he’s not,” Sellers said. “He’s got the people in mind.”
Sellers also likes that Trump has never held elected office.
“He’s not one of the kind who’ve been there their whole life,” he said. “It’s time for something new.”
Jimmy and Linda Segraves aren’t concerned that Trump has no political experience.
“If you run a multibillion-dollar company, you can run a country,” said Jimmy Seagraves, a 64-year-old retiree. “He’s got more experience than what we have now. Better than being a community organizer.”
His wife, Linda, was even more direct. “I like Donald Trump,” she said. “I don’t know anyone else I’d vote for at this time.”
Not all Dawson County’s voters, of course, back Trump. Will Wade, a banker and member of the Dawson County Board of Education, supports Rubio, the Florida U.S. senator. But Wade said he understands Trump’s appeal.
“Trump is benefiting from people who are angry,” Wade said. “Whey they get tired of being angry, they’re going to want to solve problems. Marco Rubio is a a bridge builder.”
Phillip Bailey isn’t sure who he is voting for yet, although it sure won’t be for the Democratic Party’s nominee.
Bailey, who is 47 and works in energy management, said he used to be a Democrat, but he said “there ain’t been a Democratic candidate fit to vote for.”
Trump frightens him some but is perhaps worth a shot, Bailey said.
“He’ll go putting the country back together as fast as he can,” he said. “It’s sad to say, but he’s the vote right now. That’s scary. He’s a loose cannon. It will be fun until (he) gets in a debate with another country’s leader.”
Equality a big issue for Democrats in DeKalb County
Back in the bustling urban core of metro Atlanta, DeKalb County’s population is 31 times larger than Dawson’s, and sometimes it seems to have 31 times as many problems. Scandals in county government have become routine. The local school district is still recovering from an accreditation scare, and the poverty level hovers around 20 percent.
The county is home to Stone Mountain, eight colleges and universities, including Emory University and Georgia Perimeter College, as well as top health care providers Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory Healthcare. The city of Decatur has become a food mecca and boasts one of the top school systems in the state.
It is a complicated place. From the largely black and poor South DeKalb to the white and affluent city of Dunwoody on the county’s northern edge, there’s a “tale of two DeKalb counties,” said Laveda Bennett, 57, who lives in unincorporated South DeKalb.
Bennett, a retired Marine, said that disparity in income and opportunity is what the Democratic candidates for president should be talking about.
“There’s North DeKalb and South DeKalb,” Bennett said recently before casting an advance ballot for the Democratic presidential primary. She declined to say who had her vote. “In North DeKalb, the county works to get things done. South DeKalb? We’ve got to continue to fight.”
Bennett was not alone in that sentiment.
Lorrie King of Clarkston was hustling to jury duty at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur one recent sunny afternoon. In one long breath, King said the candidates need to focus on people.
“I want to hear them talk about equality, about people at the lowest tier of society, for people who don’t have a voice, don’t have skin in the game,” she said. “Talk about race and class and equality.”
Oh, and also this: “Don’t expect to get my vote just because you’re a woman,” said King, a professor at Emory.
King made clear she is supporting Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday. Jade Reynolds, 24, a stay-at-home mom from Ellenwood, also likes Sanders, but she said she isn’t sure whether she’ll vote for him. She, too, believes equality and opportunity are keys to the election.
“I see a lot of hardships and poverty,” Reynolds said.
What is for sure is that Reynolds will not be voting for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I just don’t trust her,” Reynolds said. “She’s an awful candidate and a liar.”
State Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, has been in public office since 1995, first as a Stone Mountain City Council member and, since 2002, a member of the General Assembly whose district includes parts of Tucker and Lithonia.
Told that his county has voted for the winning candidate in 42 out of 44 statewide Democratic primaries since 1996, Mitchell said he wasn’t surprised.
“In 2008, DeKalb County had the largest percentage of voters for Barack Obama in the general election than any county in the nation,” said Mitchell, who has endorsed Clinton. “If you don’t win DeKalb County, you won’t be very successful.”
The only times DeKalb Democrats failed to pick the winner were the 1998 runoff for lieutenant governor and the primary the same year for state school superintendent.
Mitchell said DeKalb voters are smart, but they aren’t unusual. They want what everyone wants.
“DeKalb County, much like most of the nation, wants to see practical solutions to everyday issues affecting them,” he said. “When they sit down at the dining room table: the economy, college tuition, and if they get ill, the consequences could be devastating. All of that and more, including keeping the country safe.”
Chris Clark of Pine Lake said those issues are very much on his mind as he learns about the candidates. The 52-year-old said he wants to learn more about both candidates’ plans for the economy. Clark used to be in the building industry, but the Great Recession changed that. Now, he works in pest control.
“We’ve got to get the country back to work again,” he said.
It was not difficult to determine for whom Carol and Gladys Canty planned to vote when they recently walked toward the early-voting location on Memorial Drive. The mother and daughter both sported blue fleece jackets with Hillary Clinton’s campaign logo.
“I just love Hillary,” said Gladys Canty, 79, who is retired. “My mind was made up eight years ago.”
Her daughter, Carol, 55, works for the U.S. Postal Service, and they both live in Stone Mountain.
She said Clinton can solve those problems Mitchell mentioned.
“The No. 1 issue — that’s jobs,” Carol Canty said. “You see with the Affordable Care Act, you’re having a lot of people still struggling to find full-time work. I believe Hillary will have the ability to tweak the ACA and lessen regulations on small business, and that will help them create full-time jobs.”
Gladys Canty just had one request: “I would love her to get me a raise in Social Security.”
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