10 days until vote
Saturday marks 10 days until Americans vote in federal and state races on Nov. 8. All year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has brought you the key moments in those races, and it will continue to cover the campaign's main events, examine the issues and analyze candidates' finance reports until the last ballot is counted. You can follow the developments on the AJC's politics page at http://www.myajc.com/s/news/georgia-politics/ and in the Political Insider blog at http://www.myajc.com/s/news/political-insider/. You can also track our coverage on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GAPoliticsNews or Facebook at https://facebook.com/gapoliticsnewsnow.
DISTRICT 138
Represented by state Rep. Mike Cheokas, R-Americus
Population: 53,668
Median income: $36,654
Median age: 31.4 years
Percent with a college degree: 18.9 percent
Percent Georgia natives: 64.7 percent
White: 49.8 percent
Black: 39.1 percent
Hispanic: 7.4 percent
Asian: 1.6 percent
Multirace: 0.0 percent
Other race: 0.3 percent
Source: The Georgia Legislative Navigator on MyAJC.com
DISTRICT 138
Represented by state Rep. Mike Cheokas, R-Americus
Population: 53,668
Median income: $36,654
Median age: 31.4 years
Percent with a college degree: 18.9 percent
Percent Georgia natives: 64.7 percent
White: 49.8 percent
Black: 39.1 percent
Hispanic: 7.4 percent
Asian: 1.6 percent
Multirace: 0.0 percent
Other race: 0.3 percent
Source: The Georgia Legislative Navigator on MyAJC.com
Georgia isn’t blue or red. Vast portions of the state, from peanut country in rural South Georgia to the fast-growing Atlanta suburbs, are a purply stew.
And those sections — call them the swingiest of Georgia’s swing districts — could decide not only the state’s tight presidential race but also the elections down the ballot.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution visited five state House districts scattered across Georgia where the race for the White House seems the tightest.
One of them is District 138, which President Jimmy Carter still calls home. It’s a place where Democrats have gradually morphed into Republicans.
BUENA VISTA — Traffic slows along the two-lane highways of southwest Georgia as tractors and combines traipse from field to field harvesting cotton and peanuts. A meandering, 125-mile drive from Columbus through Buena Vista, Ellaville, Plains and Americus affords enough time to read the many campaign signs for county commission, sheriff and coroner candidates.
Surprisingly, only one placard — “Farmers for Trump” along Ga. 30 — touts either presidential candidate.
Political pulse-taking via campaign sign is a decidedly imprecise way to determine whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will prevail in House District 138. Yet interviews with local voters, and the district’s renown for tight races, portrays a too-close-to-call election amplified by many unhappy and reluctant voters
With polls showing the presidential contest in Georgia a dead heat, tossup districts like the 138th could determine who carries the Peach State. A disheartened electorate that may stay home Nov. 8 could also affect down-ballot races.
Republicans, turned off by Trump’s bombast and treatment of women, may vote Democrat or not at all. Democrats, particularly men, may decide they can’t support Clinton. And African-American voters, without an inspiring Barack Obama atop the ballot, may avoid the trek to the polling station.
“A lot of people are not going to vote because they don’t like either one,” said Sylvia Carter, 50, who owns Soul’s Cafe in Buena Vista and will vote for Clinton. “That’s not good. Everybody’s got to get out and vote for somebody, regardless.”
Obama bested Mitt Romney by the slightest of margins in 2012 in the district where whites fall just short of 50 percent of the population. Former President Jimmy Carter — the dean of Georgia Democrats — lives in Plains, a 25-mile jog south of Buena Vista.
Yet the district's statehouse representative, Mike Cheokas, is a Republican. He used to be a Democrat but switched parties in 2010. He walks a political tightrope every two years — he won by 2 percentage points in 2012, 4 in 2014 — and this year could be his toughest race yet.
But he’s got Melanie Harralson’s vote. So does Trump.
“I don’t think that a woman should be president. We are in the Bible Belt. A man should be in charge. We are the helpmates,” said Harralson, 44, who owns Pea Ridge and Co., a gift shop in Buena Vista. “Trump is the lesser of two evils. (And) he’s business-minded. He will surround himself with enough good people to guide him in the right direction.”
Elections in District 138 are typically won or lost in Schley (pronounced “sly”) County, where three of every four residents are white. In 2012, for example, Cheokas lost Chattahoochee, Marion and Sumter counties but won handily in Schley. Two years ago, he garnered three times as many votes in Schley as his opponent.
Kay McCarty, 53, who works at her family’s flower shop in the county seat of Ellaville, will vote for Cheokas and Trump, “who’s not a real politician.” Jerry Cook, a 51-year-old financial officer for a paint manufacturer, will vote for Clinton because “she’s predictable,” though he wishes for a viable third-party candidate.
Jason Hoch, the quality control manager for an Ellaville factory, is undecided. He likes that Trump is a businessman but is wary of the Republican’s past business dealings. He knows what he’ll get with a Clinton presidency. Neither candidate, though, inspires.
“We’ve got 318 million Americans and those are the two to choose from?” said Hoch, 43. “But voting is a God-given right, and everybody who can vote should vote. I might not decide until I get in the voting booth.”
Other swing districts:
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