Census data released Thursday shows that Georgia, a state where white supremacy was enshrined in laws and customs for decades, has seen a dramatic boom in ethnic and racial diversity over the past decade, a trend that is already profoundly affecting politics has both the state and the nation.
Previous census data suggested that whites in Georgia were on their way to minority status at some point in the next few years. But they’re not quite there yet – yet. The new data shows that white people currently make up 51.9 percent of the population, up from 59.7 percent in 2010.
The percentage of African Americans in the total population has increased from 31.5 percent to 33 percent over the past few decades, while Hispanic Americans have increased from 8.8 percent to 10.5 percent of the population. And the number of Asians in the state rose by more than 200,000 people, an increase of 54.8 percent. Asians now make up 5.8 percent of the state’s population.
Long-time Georgians have felt the change in the flavors of everyday life for years and take it for granted that there are good tlayudas in Jonesboro and serious bibimbap in Columbus.
However, most observers of Georgia politics also believe that these demographic changes also help explain the new competitiveness of the Democratic Party in Georgia, where Joe Biden narrowly defeated former President Donald J. Trump in November and where two Democratic candidates for the US Senate, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock soon scored breathtaking victories over their Republican rivals.
While Republicans in Georgia have tried to rally their base by raising concerns about illegal immigration and non-citizen voting, the Democrats have sought to build a multicultural coalition that takes advantage of populous and diversifying areas like the suburb of Gwinnett County, which used to be booming when whites fled the city of Atlanta Ader.
But the promise of good schools and abundant housing stocks eventually became a lure for people of all races as overt racialism subsided in places like Gwinnett. The district that was more than 90 percent white in 1970 is 35.5 percent white today.
And the county, one of Georgia’s great republican strongholds for decades, chose Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Mr. Biden in 2020.
