Georgia Voters Feel Re-energized, Even as 2020 Looms Large

A perpetually expanding sprawl encircles Atlanta, the capital of Georgia and arguably all of the South. Newcomers from all over have powered its rapid growth, lured by a sense of promise and possibility.

Because of the demographic shifts in these rapidly diversifying suburbs, Georgia recently emerged as a battleground state, after years of Republican dominance. And even though President Biden won the state in 2020, his prospects this year in Georgia were dim.

Then Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up, and the energy shifted. Voters who struggled to feel enthusiastic about Mr. Biden were now excited and optimistic. The new dynamics may serve as the biggest test yet of Georgia's status as a swing state.

Over several weeks, we spoke to voters scattered across the constellation of suburban counties that make up the footprint of Metro Atlanta, finding a range of opinions as diverse as the area itself.

The prevailing issues echoed those expressed by voters virtually everywhere: the cost of living. Security at the southern border. Access to abortion.

But voting rights, election integrity and the health of the country's institutions mattered here, as well. That was a direct result of 2020.

Abortion Rises as an Issue in the Suburbs Even with Georgia's evolution — it has elected Democrats for president and the Senate — there are issues that reveal how conservative values are still deeply rooted in the state.

Abortion is one of them: The state has a ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

While Republican elected officials in the state continue their opposition to abortion access, recent polling shows that many women are motivated to protect abortion rights. Ms. Harris returned to Georgia last week to give a speech highlighting the deaths of two women that she argued were the result of the state's strict limits on abortion access.

"I'm a childhood survivor of sexual abuse," said Robyn Rigs, 62, an independent voter who lives in Decatur. "It's just important to me that it remains in our hands and that we get to make the decisions over our own bodies."