Black Turnout Rose in Georgia, Powered by Younger Voters

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTBlack voters under 30 outpaced young white voters for the first time since 2012, contributing to a statewide sweep by Democrats.Ground Game Georgia, a campaign focused on electing Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor and re-electing Senator Jon Ossoff, made turnout a core focus of its efforts in the state.Credit...Nicole Craine for The New York TimesNov. 12, 2026, 3:30 p.m. ETThe Black share of the electorate in Georgia rose to its highest level in more than a decade, with the turnout rate among young Black voters outpacing that of young white voters. Both trends contributed to a heavy leftward shift in the state this year.Democrats had a historically good election night in Georgia. Senator Jon Ossoff won re-election by 18 percentage points, which was the largest margin of victory for a statewide Democrat in more than two decades. Down the ballot, the party romped to victory, flipping the state house and every statewide office. That included the governorship, with Keisha Lance Bottoms elected the first Black governor in Georgia’s history.Black voter enthusiasm, particularly in the South, was closely watched in the midterm elections after a Supreme Court ruling in April that weakened the Voting Rights Act, setting off a wave of redistricting that diluted Black representation in several states.Georgia is one of the first states to report its validated voter history for 2026, which is a record of exactly who voted in the election. It is also one of only a handful of states where voters can provide their race when they register to vote.The result is a glimpse at Black voters’ role in elections that gave Democrats control of both chambers of Congress, albeit from one state.Turnout was crucial. Based on voter data taken directly from the state, Black voters made up at least 30 percent of Georgia’s electorate in 2026, the highest of any election since 2012, when President Barack Obama ran for re-election. The true share is likely to be slightly higher — around 7 percent of voters in Georgia’s voter file are listed as “other” or “unknown” for race. Times Voter Trends, which models the race of these voters, estimates the Black share of this year’s electorate at around 32 percent.Because Black voters in Georgia are overwhelmingly Democratic — more than 95 percent of them voted for Mr. Ossoff this year, according to Times Voter Trends — even small increases in the Black share of the electorate can translate to sizable gains for the party.Much of the surge in Democratic support in Georgia was fueled by voters under 30, across all racial groups. Their swing toward Democrats was more than twice as large as Georgia voters’ as a whole. Like young voters in other states, this group shifted modestly toward Donald Trump in 2024 before lurching back to the left this time.Turnout tends to decline in midterm elections, particularly among younger voters, but higher turnout among young white voters has been the recent norm in midterm and presidential years.In 2022, 33 percent of registered white voters under 30 cast a ballot, compared with 22 percent of registered Black voters under 30 — a gap that was virtually erased in the 2026 election.Evan Reynolds works in the Election Analytics department of The Times and is a member of the 2026-27 Times Fellowship, a program for journalists early in their careers.Related ContentAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT