Georgia is never boring. Honestly, if you’re looking for a state that keeps political junkies up until 3 a.m. staring at a glowing map of Fulton County, this is it. After the absolute chaos of 2020, everyone was bracing for a repeat—lawsuits, "finding" votes, and razor-thin margins. But the presidential election results Georgia delivered in late 2024 actually told a much different, and in some ways, more straightforward story about where the Deep South is heading.
Donald Trump took the state back.
He didn't just win; he flipped it with a margin that made a recount feel like a formality rather than a desperate hope. With 50.7% of the vote compared to Kamala Harris’s 48.5%, the raw numbers show a gap of about 115,100 votes. It’s a far cry from the 11,779-vote cliffhanger that defined the previous cycle.
The Red Wall Rebuilt
You’ve probably heard people calling Georgia a "Blue State" after 2020. That was always a bit of a stretch. It’s a purple state, or maybe a "light red" state that sometimes gets a wild hair. In 2024, the rural counties showed up in a massive way.
Places like Forsyth and Cherokee counties, which are those fast-growing suburban-to-exurban spots north of Atlanta, stayed deep red. Trump pulled roughly 66% in Forsyth and 69% in Cherokee. If you want to win Georgia as a Republican, you have to run up the score there, and he did.
But the real story? It’s the "hollow out" of the Democratic margins in the places Harris needed most.
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Why the Math Didn't Work for Harris
Basically, Harris did well in the "Big Five" core Atlanta counties (Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton), but she didn't do well enough.
Take Gwinnett County. It’s a diverse, sprawling suburban powerhouse. Harris won it with 57.6%, but Trump still managed to grab 41.1%. When you’re trying to offset the massive Republican wave coming from the rest of the 159 counties, those few percentage points of slippage are everything.
Even in Fulton County—the heart of Atlanta—Harris hit 71.9%. Sounds great, right? But compared to the energy levels Democrats had in 2020, there was a noticeable cooling. The "Blue Wall" in the South started to show some cracks, particularly with male voters and certain minority demographics that Republicans have been courting for years.
The Turnout Monster
Georgians love to vote. Or at least, they’ve gotten very good at it. We saw a record-shattering 5.29 million people cast a ballot. That’s nearly 68.3% of eligible voters.
Early voting is the new normal here. Over 3.7 million people didn't even wait for Election Day. They stood in lines at libraries and community centers weeks in advance. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—who has become a bit of a household name for his refusal to "find" votes back in 2021—called this the "most secure election in Georgia's history."
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He certified the results on November 22, 2024, alongside Governor Brian Kemp. No drama. No screaming matches in the counting rooms. Just a quiet, official confirmation that the 16 electoral votes were going to Trump.
Flipped Counties and Surprising Shifts
Usually, counties don't flip that often. But 2024 had a few surprises:
- Baldwin County: This one was tight. It’s home to Milledgeville and has a mix of college students and rural voters. Trump managed to flip it by a tiny margin, roughly 50.9% to 48.6%.
- The "South Atlanta Shift": Interestingly, Henry County actually swung about 9% more toward the Democrats. It’s one of the few places where Harris actually improved on Biden’s 2020 numbers. It’s becoming a major Democratic stronghold as the metro area pushes further south.
- The Northern Strongholds: Up in the mountains, counties like Towns and Rabun saw turnout north of 60% before Election Day even started. These areas are almost exclusively Republican, and they acted as a demographic "firewall" for Trump.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think Georgia is all about Atlanta. It isn't.
Sure, the metro area is huge, but the presidential election results Georgia provided show that the "Two Georgias" theory is still very much alive. You have the high-density, diverse, college-educated urban core, and then you have literally everything else.
The "everything else" grew its margins.
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The biggest misconception is that the 2020 result was a permanent shift. It looks more like a perfect storm of a pandemic, high mail-in voting, and a specific distaste for the incumbent at the time. In 2024, with inflation and the economy being the number one issue for Georgia voters (according to almost every exit poll), the state reverted to its conservative lean.
The Raffensperger Factor
It’s worth mentioning that the election process itself was under a microscope. After all the 2020 litigation, Georgia passed SB 202, which changed some of the rules around drop boxes and absentee IDs.
Critics said it would suppress the vote. Supporters said it would make it secure.
The result? Record turnout. Whether the law helped or hindered is still a point of fierce debate, but the sheer volume of voters suggests that Georgians are highly motivated regardless of the hurdles. Raffensperger’s office even did a hand-count audit of about 750,000 ballots. The difference they found? Trump gained 11 votes, and Harris lost 6. Basically, the machines worked.
How to Use This Data
If you’re looking at these results for the future, here is the actionable takeaway. Georgia is the quintessential "margin" state.
- Watch the Suburbs: If you’re a political strategist, the "donut" counties around Atlanta (like Fayette and Coweta) are the battleground. Trump won Fayette by just 3 points. That’s the frontier.
- Economic Messaging Wins: Exit polls showed that rural and suburban voters in Georgia were deeply concerned about the "cost of living." Social issues took a backseat to the price of eggs and gas in the Peach State.
- Ignore the Noise: Don't get distracted by the court cases or the rhetoric. Look at the certification. Georgia’s systems—from the text-recognition audits to the risk-limiting reviews—are now among the most scrutinized and verified in the country.
The state isn't "blue" or "red" yet. It’s a 2-point state. In American politics, that's as close to a coin flip as you can get. If you want to understand where the next election is going, keep your eyes on the Savannah suburbs and the North Georgia mountains. That’s where the real power sits.
To stay ahead of the next cycle, your best bet is to monitor the Georgia Secretary of State’s "Data Hub" for voter registration shifts. This will tell you if the "Blue Wave" is actually receding or just catching its breath. Also, pay attention to the 2026 gubernatorial race; it will be the first major test of whether this 2024 Republican rebound is a trend or a fluke.