ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia residents hope to influence both parties’ presidential races on Super Tuesday, with one of the largest delegate totals up for grabs among the 12 states that will vote on the key day in the election season.
Georgia’s deep-red status and pool of delegates drew last-minute visits from multiple Republican candidates as time before the primary got short. Democrats, meanwhile, know the state’s large minority population makes black voters essential to winning a party primary in Georgia.
Recent polling in the state shows Donald Trump leading the Republican race and Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who championed the effort to set the March 1 primary date in Georgia and across the South, said the change gives Georgians a chance to affect both parties’ presidential nominees. Republican voters include a wide variety of people, from evangelicals to those focused solely on economic issues, he said.
“It’s got something for everybody,” Kemp said.