Swing Districts: Tough choices at top, down ballot in Gwinnett

Represented by state Rep. Joyce Chandler, R-Grayson

Population: 53,391

Median income: $63,356

Median age: 34.8 years

Percent with a college degree: 31.8 percent

Percent Georgia natives: 36.5 percent

White: 43.3 percent

Black: 34.1 percent

Hispanic: 15.5 percent

Asian: 3.9 percent

Multirace: 0.4 percent

Other race: 0.8 percent

HOUSE DISTRICT 105

Represented by state Rep. Joyce Chandler, R-Grayson

Population: 53,391

Median income: $63,356

Median age: 34.8 years

Percent with a college degree: 31.8 percent

Percent Georgia natives: 36.5 percent

White: 43.3 percent

Black: 34.1 percent

Hispanic: 15.5 percent

Asian: 3.9 percent

Multirace: 0.4 percent

Other race: 0.8 percent

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 105, a suburban Atlanta district that’s represented by a Republican but is now majority-minority.

LAWRENCEVILLE — The district that covers a wide swath of Gwinnett County’s relatively rural southeastern corner — plus the city of Grayson and chunks of both incorporated and unincorporated Lawrenceville — is one of the most evenly split in Georgia.

House District 105 voted for Barack Obama by a slim 50.77 percent to 48.36 percent in 2012, but it is held by Republican state Rep. Joyce Chandler. Whites make up only about 43 percent of its population, making it one of the most diverse districts in the state held by a Republican.

A handful of residents interviewed this week had equally diverse opinions about the country’s major-party presidential nominees, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Joseph Vega, a native of Puerto Rico, has only lived in District 105 for a few months. The retiree has voted for Barack Obama and fancies himself an independent — but he said he’s backing Trump.

Vega said the GOP nominee hasn’t “portrayed himself” well at times, but he praised Trump’s business acumen.

“The economy the way it’s going,” he said, leaning on a walking stick in Lawrenceville’s scenic Tribble Mill Park, “I just think that we need some kind of change.”

That doesn’t mean it’s been an easy decision. Just ask his wife.

“She hates it when I talk about Trump,” a laughing Vega said. “Because let me tell you something: Women really hate Trump.”

Ray and Rose Harden had an equally hard time choosing between the candidates — but both cast early votes for Clinton.

“To me, both of the candidates are scary,” said Ray Harden, a military veteran. “And both of them don’t care nothing about the people. Everybody’s blowing smoke.”

While Harden said he voted for “a lot of Republicans and Democrats” down the ballot, many residents of the torn district said they weren’t overly familiar with the local races. That could lend itself to difficult presidential choices guiding the results of other races — like the one pitting House 105 incumbent Chandler, a Republican, against Democratic challenger Donna McLeod.

Then again, there are also people like Lisa Johnson, who traditionally leans Republican but has opted to go “write-in” for president and “looking more at issues” for other races.

Said Johnson, “I’m not a party ticket kind of girl this year.”

Other swing districts: