AJC Georgia Politics Road Trip examines local issues and voices driving elections

With an Atlanta mayor’s race in full swing and pieces coming together for statewide elections in 2022, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is hitting the road to listen, learn and report about the issues driving Georgia politics on the local level.

Political columnist Patricia Murphy’s project, Georgia Politics Road Trip, began in Savannah and will take her to farms, mountain communities, small towns and large.

“I’ll hit the coast and the mountains, the farms and the ‘burbs,” Murphy wrote in a column to introduce the project. “I’ll talk to the activists, the metro mayors, the Little League moms and the members of Congress — all the people who can tell the story of where Georgia politics are today and where they’re headed in the future.

“It’s meant to get past the talking points and press releases and into the real dynamics driving Georgia politics.”

The first column also includes some telling numbers about sweeping change in Georgia.

Day 1 of my Summer Politics Road trip for the @AJC, reporting from #Ga01, is in the books. Headed out this am to Georgia Ports, source meetings (Savannah, I can’t eat any more!) and a @DrBiden newser w/ @SenatorWarnock & @MayorJohnsonSAV. #gapol pic.twitter.com/6RF64w7w6t
— Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) July 8, 2021

Murphy, who joined the AJC in 2020, has deep Georgia roots and wide experience writing about politics, politicians and voters, including CQ Roll Call, the Daily Beast, AOL News and Georgia Public Broadcasting. She has covered the Georgia Legislature, Capitol Hill in Washington, presidential campaigns, House and Senate races, and more.

For the AJC, she anchors The Jolt, the weekday sunrise notebook on Georgia politics in the Political Insider Blog. She also writes a political opinion column that appears on the Georgia Politics page and in editions of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Follow the Georgia Politics Road Trip

The stories from Georgia Politics Road Trip are collected here. Readers can follow Murphy on Twitter @politicalinsidr. The Georgia Politics Team is on Facebook and Twitter under the handle @ajcgapolitics.

You can find more about Murphy, including her most recent posts and columns, on her AJC staff page. As she says in the daily Jolt, “readers are some of our favorite tipsters.” Send tips, suggested Georgia destinations and food recommendations to patricia.murphy@ajc.com.

A map of the Georgia Politics Road Trip so far

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Georgia Politics Road Trip story list

Patricia Murphy columns

How political columnist Patricia Murphy presses on

Georgia Politics news from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ajc.com/politics/

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