Copeland implores the Atlanta electorate to broaden the scope of their political vision beyond the limits of this massive metropolis because, despite its size and influence (the ATL metro area is the nation’s ninth largest), Georgia state politics impacts more aspects of their daily lives.
“The way I look at it, you have a two-thronged approach: You have Atlanta and then you have the state of Georgia. And while you have young professionals eagerly involved in Atlanta, I really think that the rest of the state of Georgia gets forgotten,” said Copeland. “And I came up through the Democratic Party in the state of Georgia and then in my later years, I got involved in Atlanta politics.”
While Atlanta and Georgia are, of course, inextricably intertwined, there are distinct differences that the electorate should become more aware of, admonishes Copeland.
“Two totally different stories. I personally think that Georgia politics is much more important than Atlanta politics because it has a bigger impact on our daily lives,” says Copeland, who’s been involved with the Young Dems for about a decade. “So what I’ve been doing the last two to three years is try to pull those young professionals from the trendy politics of the Atlanta scene and bring them into the statewide political scene.”
Copeland is optimistic that the state can return to its blue roots with this year’s midterm primaries and general election.
“We believe we have the right candidate at the top of the ticket to take Georgia back over,” Copeland says. “You have Michelle Nunn, she comes from a political family and she’s heavily involved in the community through volunteerism and philanthropy. Jason Carter, a senator from DeKalb Atlanta. his grandfather was President Jimmy Carter. He has the experience, and not only does he have the experience but he has the passion to a lot of great things for the state of Georgia. He has a vast array of topics of things he likes to talk about it. That’s what I’m really excited about.”
Trying to make that excitement contagious so that it catches on with more apathetic or disillusioned Georgians, particularly young people, has been admittedly challenging. But the rewards of their participation keeps Copeland hungry to get more involved and into the poll booths.
“Oh God! We do see that. You have people that say our votes don’t count or that Republicans have a stranglehold on the state. But we show them the facts and figures, the real numbers, to show them how close Dems are from pulling the state. President Obama really almost took the state with no presence whatsoever,” Copeland explains. “He didn’t actually have a campaign in the state of Georgia. His campaign came from North Carolina. So when you see the numbers, you see how close Georgia is to becoming a blue state. When you tell young people that, how close we are, then it becomes something different. That it is possible, that their vote could count. So we show them the facts and figures and then we tell them how important it is to vote. Once you have that conversation, people are more prone to register to vote,” Copeland said.
To find out more about the Young Democrats of Atlanta or to get involved, log on to www.atlantayoungdems.org and check out their Facebook page: Young Democrats of Atlanta.
