Editing Georgia (U.S. state) (section)

===Politics===
{{Main|Politics of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

During the 1960s and 1970s, Georgia made significant changes in civil rights and governance. As in many other states, its legislature had not reapportioned congressional districts according to population from 1931 to after the 1960 census. Problems of malapportionment in the state legislature, where rural districts had outsize power in relation to urban districts, such as Atlanta's, were corrected after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in ''[[Wesberry v. Sanders]]'' (1964). The court ruled that congressional districts had to be reapportioned to have essentially equal populations.

A related case, ''[[Reynolds v. Sims]]'' (1964), required state legislatures to end their use of geographical districts or counties in favor of "one man, one vote"; that is, districts based upon approximately equal populations, to be reviewed and changed as necessary after each census. These changes resulted in residents of Atlanta and other urban areas gaining political power in Georgia in proportion to their populations.<ref name="epstein">[https://books.google.com/books?id=CmPKNI2z5-AC&pg=PA753&lpg=PA753?+Apportionment?#v=onepage&q=Was%20Georgia%20dominated%20by%20rural%20districts%3F%20Apportionment%3F Lee Epstein, Thomas G. Walk, ''Constitutional Law: Rights, Liberties and Justice 8th Edition''], SAGE, 2012, p. 753</ref> From the mid-1960s, the voting electorate increased after African Americans' rights to vote were enforced under civil rights law.

Economic growth through this period was dominated by Atlanta and its region. It was a bedrock of the emerging "[[New South]]". From the late 20th century, Atlanta attracted headquarters and relocated workers of national companies, becoming more diverse, liberal and cosmopolitan than many areas of the state.

In the 21st century, many conservative Democrats, including former U.S. Senator and governor [[Zell Miller]], decided to support Republicans. The state's socially conservative bent results in wide support for measures such as restrictions on abortion. In 2004, a state constitutional amendment banning [[same-sex marriage]]s was approved by 76% of voters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Georgia_Constitutional_Amendment_1_%282004%29 |title=Georgia Marriage Amendment, Question 1 (2004) |publisher=Ballotpedia |access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref> However, after the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in ''[[Obergefell v. Hodges]]'', all Georgia counties came into full compliance, recognizing the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Greg | last=Bluestein | title=Top Georgia court official: Judges are following the law on gay marriages | url=http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/06/29/top-georgia-court-official-judges-are-following-the-law-on-gay-marriages/ | publisher=Atlanta Constitution-Journal | location=Atlanta, Georgia | date=June 29, 2015 | access-date=September 25, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903081750/http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/06/29/top-georgia-court-official-judges-are-following-the-law-on-gay-marriages/ | archive-date=September 3, 2017 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In [[United States presidential election|presidential elections]], Georgia voted solely Democratic in every election from [[1900 United States presidential election|1900]] to [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]]. In [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]], it was one of only a handful of states to vote for Republican [[Barry Goldwater]] over Democrat [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. In [[1968 United States presidential election|1968]], it did not vote for either of the two parties, but rather the [[American Independent Party]] and its nominee, [[Alabama]] Governor [[George Wallace]]. In [[1972 United States presidential election|1972]], the state returned to Republicans as part of a landslide victory for [[Richard Nixon]]. In [[1976 United States presidential election|1976]] and [[1980 United States presidential election|1980]], it voted for Democrat and former Georgia governor [[Jimmy Carter]]. The state returned to Republicans in [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]] and [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]], before going Democratic once again in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]]. For every election between that year and [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]], Georgia voted heavily Republican, in line with many of its neighbors in the [[Deep South]]. In [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]], it voted Democratic for the first time in 28 years, aiding [[Joe Biden]] in his defeat of incumbent Republican [[Donald Trump]]. Prior to 2020, Republicans in state, federal and congressional races had seen decreasing margins of victory, and many election forecasts had ranked Georgia as a "toss-up" state, or with Biden as a very narrow favorite.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/georgia-demographic-shift-vote-democrat-republican-1.5794314|title=Georgia was reliably red. Young, Black voters helped turn it blue|publisher=CBC News|author=Mark Gollom|date=November 8, 2020}}</ref> Concurrent with the 2020 presidential election were two elections for both of Georgia's United States Senate seats (one of which being a special election due to the resignation of Senator [[Johnny Isakson]], and the other being regularly scheduled). After no candidate in either race received a majority of the vote, both went to January 5, 2021, run-offs, which Democrats [[Jon Ossoff]] and [[Raphael Warnock]] won. Ossoff is the state's first Jewish senator, and Warnock is the state's first Black senator. Biden's, Ossoff's, and Warnock's wins were attributed to the rapid [[Historical racial and ethnic demographics of the United States|diversification]] of the suburbs of Atlanta<ref>{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Emma |title=How Georgia Flipped Blue for Biden |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/biden-win-georgia-democrats-senate-runoff/617001/ |access-date=March 7, 2021 |work=The Atlantic |date=November 13, 2020}}</ref> and increased turnout of younger [[African American]] voters, particularly around the suburbs of Atlanta and in [[Savannah, Georgia]].<ref name=stacey1>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/georgia-senate-runoff-black-voters-stacey-abrams|title=How Black voters lifted Georgia Democrats to Senate runoff victories|work=The Guardian|access-date=January 7, 2021|date=January 7, 2021}}</ref><ref name=progressive>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/02/raphael-warnock-might-be-too-radical-georgia-senate/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=January 7, 2021|date=December 2, 2020|title=Raphael Warnock might really be too radical for Georgia}}</ref><ref name=progressive2>{{cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/01/06/last-night-in-georgia-black-americans-saved-democracy/|title=Last night in Georgia, Black Americans saved democracy|access-date=January 7, 2021|date=January 6, 2021|publisher=The Brookings Institution|quote=Both candidates ran on progressive agendas}}</ref>