BRUNSWICK — In Brunswick, supporters of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms said it was refreshing to see a statewide candidate repeatedly return to coastal Georgia rather than treat the region as a one-stop campaign obligation.
About 40 miles south, in St. Marys, Angela Adkins offered a similar test for Republican nominee Rick Jackson.
Some candidates arrive in South Georgia for a symbolic appearance, she said. Others appear genuinely interested in the area and its residents.
She described Jackson’s visit to St. Marys as personal and heartfelt, and said the size of the crowd demonstrated that Camden County voters were eager to engage with statewide candidates.
Jackson spokesperson Garrison Douglas said the coastal communities were among Jackson’s early primary stops and that it was “fitting” they would also be among his first stops after winning the Republican nomination.
“Fighting for all 11 million Georgians means there is no town too small or too rural for Rick to visit, listen to, and share his vision to create good-paying jobs, make health care more affordable and accessible, and keep our state the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” Douglas said.
The two camps differ sharply on what Georgia’s next governor should do. But their supporters are expressing a similar frustration: South Georgia is too often treated as one predictable political bloc rather than a collection of communities with distinct economies, populations and needs.
“I really, truly want to hope that (the visits are) not symbolic,” said Tres Hamilton, who was born and raised in Brunswick and now lives in Camden County.
As the general-election campaign expands beyond metro Atlanta, South Georgia offers an early test of whether the nominees understand the state’s political geography. The region includes deeply Republican rural counties, majority-Black neighborhoods, coastal cities, military families, port workers, affluent island residents and communities burdened by poverty and industrial pollution.
The concerns often overlap: jobs, housing, healthcare, transportation and the feeling that state leaders forget about communities far from Atlanta.
The preferred solutions do not.
Bottoms is pitching state investment in healthcare, transportation, housing and education. Jackson’s supporters describe his appeal through business growth, lower taxes, law enforcement and a promise to run government more like a business.
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Both candidates must persuade voters that they see more than a convenient backdrop for a campaign event.
Hamilton said candidates from metropolitan areas often arrive assuming communities across Georgia have access to the same services available in and around Atlanta.
They do not, she said.
South Georgia residents without cars may struggle to reach work, grocery stores, doctors or government services. Public transportation is limited or nonexistent in many areas, while major employers can be miles from the neighborhoods where potential workers live.
Hamilton said she also believes Democratic candidates sometimes look at the partisan makeup of coastal counties and decide they are not worth the campaign’s time or money.
But a county’s voting history does not mean every resident shares the same priorities, she said.
“People should vote their interest,” Hamilton said.
Bottoms said she does not change her fundamental message when traveling between Atlanta and rural Georgia.
Across the state, she said, voters want strong schools, safe communities, jobs, transportation, healthcare and the ability to live with dignity.
“The issues, the themes of the issues are the same,” Bottoms said. “The starting points for the solutions vary.”
That distinction is central to her South Georgia pitch.
A healthcare service may technically exist but remain functionally unavailable if the nearest specialist is more than an hour away. A job opening is of little use to a worker who cannot reach it. Telehealth does not solve a problem for a family without reliable internet access.
Bottoms called her latest coastal swing “not a one and done” and said repeated visits would help her campaign shape policy. Jackson’s campaign said the same.
But the trips also exposed how difficult it is for candidates to speak about South Georgia as a single place.
Brunswick is a port city, a tourist gateway and home to the College of Coastal Georgia. It sits near affluent island communities and major employers, but also includes neighborhoods that have not shared equally in the region’s growth.
Lenora Hamilton, who moved from Atlanta to Brunswick about seven years ago, described tourism and port activity as both an asset and a source of pressure. Lenora Hamilton and Tres Hamilton are not related.
Economic activity brings money into the region, she said, but can also push housing prices beyond the reach of working- and middle-class residents. She pointed to a growing divide between the “haves and have-nots.”
“Families just deal with a lot, and a lot of it’s medical, and a lot of it’s just resources and school for your kids,” Lenora Hamilton said. “Everything seems to be gutted, and it’s felt more dramatically for the middle class and the (working) classes that are just struggling so hard just to function.”
Glynn County Commissioner Allen Booker described that divide geographically during a healthcare roundtable Bottoms held in Brunswick. The northern portion of the county and the islands have experienced substantial growth, he said, while much of the city continues to experience deep poverty.
Brunswick is therefore simultaneously connected to global trade and home to residents who struggle to reach basic care. It attracts tourists while confronting housing instability. Its industrial history produces jobs and environmental concerns concentrated in particular neighborhoods.
St. Marys presents a different mix.
The waterfront city sits near the Florida line and is closely tied to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. It is shaped by military families, tourism, small businesses and the pressures of coastal growth.
Adkins said residents want economic development while protecting the character of the community.
“We want to preserve the area, but we also want to see growth as well,” she said.
She said Jackson’s business background, tax proposals and support for law enforcement appeal to many of her neighbors.
Her description reflects a different theory of what South Georgia needs. Where Bottoms describes gaps that require public investment, Jackson supporters emphasize growth, lower taxes and business-oriented management.
The sharpest point of agreement among coastal residents, however, was transportation.
At Bottoms’ Brunswick healthcare meeting, providers described pregnant patients traveling long distances to see specialists, parents missing work to take children to doctors or dentists in other counties, and patients struggling to find rides to appointments.
Alicia Hurst, who has a business in Brunswick, described a client and her disabled son waiting roughly 12 hours for transportation back home. Providers also said some transportation services for the elderly or people with disabilities will not travel down dirt roads to pick up patients.
Dr. Shontae Buffington said parents are sometimes blamed for failing to care for their children when the real barriers are cost, distance and a lack of available specialists.
The same dynamic affects employment. Well-paying jobs may exist near interstate exits or industrial sites while prospective workers have no reliable way to reach them.
In South Georgia, transportation is workforce policy, healthcare policy and anti-poverty policy at the same time.
Those overlapping problems create different tests for the two nominees.
Bottoms must show that her experience leading Atlanta can translate to communities where density, infrastructure and government capacity are dramatically different.
Jackson must show that economic growth and business-minded management can reach residents who already live near major economic assets but remain disconnected from jobs, affordable housing and healthcare.
Neither can rely solely on the region’s partisan reputation.
A Black voter in Brunswick, an island homeowner, a port worker, a military spouse in Camden County and a low-income parent without transportation may live within a short drive of one another while experiencing Georgia in sharply different ways.
Their ballots may ultimately reflect different solutions. Their demand to the candidates is more consistent: Understand where you are before telling people what they need.
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