With 2024 coming to a close next week, AccessWDUN is taking a look back at the year to identify trends and top issues in the Northeast Georgia region heading into 2025.
With 2024 being a presidential election year, it is a chance to look at the political landscape of the region.
Northeast Georgia has largely been a Republican stronghold for decades, but the population of the area has also seen a boom in recent years, leading some area Democrats to believe there was ground to be gained in the area.
That did not play out at the polls in November, however, as GOP candidates overwhelmingly continued to dominate, including President-Elect Donald Trump. Trump won every county in the region with the exception of Gwinnett County, which Democrat Vice-President Kamala Harris took with 57.65% of the vote.
Every other county in the region went in Trump's favor by a minimum margin of 66% (Forsyth County.) The most Trump-leaning county in the region was Banks County, which Trump won with 88.96% of the vote, his fourth-largest margin of the 159 counties in Georgia.
Trump ultimately carried Georgia, which had flipped to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Political Science Professor at the University of North Georgia Nathan Price said the election was largely decided by turnout margins that went in Trump's favor in other parts of the state.
"I think the polls were a little better this cycle, but polling is a guess. You have to imagine what the electorate is going to look like that day," Price said. "Turnout was really high in the areas that (Trump) needed it to be and the turnout wasn't as good where (Harris) needed it to be."
In addition to the presidential race, Republicans also won every contested race outside of Gwinnett County in the region. Even in Gwinnett, however, there was a flip win for the GOP.
Republican Sandy Donatucci defeated Democrat incumbent Farooq Mughal in the race for Georgia House District 105, which makes up much of the northern part of the county including the Dacula area. Donatucci took 50.13% of the vote to flip the seat. It marked the only incumbent to lose an election in November in the Northeast Georgia region.
