The Party Comes First. Rural Georgia Comes Last

Take a drive through rural Georgia and you’ll see the truth our politicians hope you’re too polite to say: we’ve been neglected, ignored, and flat‑out taken for granted.

The backroads tell the story.  

Not the campaign mailers.  

Not the stump speeches.  

Not the party talking points.

The actual Georgia, the one outside the metro glow  is full of shuttered hospitals, dying downtowns, underfunded schools, and communities surviving on grit because their elected officials sure aren’t fighting for them.

And here’s the part folks don’t like to say out loud:  

Most of the people representing rural Georgia come from one party, and they’ve been coasting on loyalty instead of delivering results.

For years, rural voters showed up.  

They voted the same way.  

They trusted the same names.  

They believed the promises.

But loyalty without accountability turns into exploitation.  

And that’s exactly what’s happened.

At some point, rural Georgians are going to have to look in the mirror and ask the question that’s been hanging in the air for a decade:

Do these representatives and state senators actually give a damn about us or are they just protecting their party and their seat?

Because the evidence is sitting right in front of us:

- Hospitals closed while lawmakers argued about everything except healthcare.  

- Broadband “expansion” that somehow never reaches the dirt roads where people actually live.  

- Farmers squeezed while politicians pose for photos in fields they don’t understand.  

- Schools scraping by while the legislature pats itself on the back for “record budgets.”  

- Local communities losing control to decisions made by people who don’t know the first thing about them.

That’s not representation.  

That’s abandonment dressed up as leadership.

And rural Georgians aren’t stupid.  

They see it.  

They feel it.  

They live with the consequences every single day.

The coming‑to‑Jesus moment is unavoidable now.  

Not partisan.  

Not ideological.  

Just real.

Who is actually fighting for rural Georgia and who is hiding behind a party label while our communities fall apart?

When rural voters start demanding answers to that question and stop rewarding politicians who treat them like a guaranteed vote

the entire political landscape of this state will shift.

And maybe then, rural Georgia will finally get the respect, investment, and representation it’s been owed for far too long.

Why are rural Georgians so much more likely to be conservative?

A lot of politics is about values.

In general, people who work for themselves or work for small family businesses tend to put more trust in themselves and those around them to direct resources.

Reliance on those close to you and not the government is line with the conservative political philosophy.

Further, if you live in a small town such as Hahira, Arlington, Reidsville, or Baxley, you are more likely to know the people around you. You are more likely to have trust and faith in your local community. This enhances the feeling of self-reliance, and lessens the perceived need to put faith in government.

If you live in a large city like Macon, Albany, Augusta, Atlanta everything is much more interconnected. Government becomes much more important. You see yourself as one of a large mass of people. You are more likely to be working for a large corporation. Because you see yourself as more interconnected, you're more likely to align with the political philosophy that is more about putting trust in a large institution to help mediate all these different ways in which this large group of people is interconnected. You're thus more likely to be inclined to vote with Democratic Party because it sees government as a mediator in this respect.

There is a perception by those in rural areas like for instance, say Ellaville that welfare and government spending that favors the poor happens in big cities and so does not benefit them. There is a perception in the rural community that Democrats do not value hard work and favor handouts. Democrats would counter that social safety nets are necessary. Regardless, in rural communities like Fitzgerald, Taliaferro, Lexington, issues like homelessness and the daily interaction with the effects of social safety nets are less visible.


In terms of smaller issues, rural Georgia (and America) is where coal, oil and gas can be found, and people near those resources depend on those industries for employment and so tend to have a different take on environmentalism and natural resources.

Beyond that people are more likely to hunt in rural areas and favor gun rights. They are also more likely to be religious and thus more likely to be pro-life.

Another point is that if you're LGBT, you probably won't find too many others who are LGBT in your small rural town, so you're more likely to move a big city. If you're LGBT, you're likely to care a lot about LGBT rights, and that may lead you to vote Democrat, all else being equal. This movement leaves those remaining in rural areas more conservative as they have lost members of their community that would otherwise be more liberal.

Some cities have a greater percentage of African American residents than the rest of the state does, an ethnic group that tends to vote Democrat. In rural areas, the percentages are often reversed, which increases the likelihood that a given rural area is more conservative.

Beyond a sense of interconnectedness, cities also have more people living in extreme poverty who are dependent on government services, a group that tends to vote Democrat. Because people in this predicament are less likely to be found in rural areas, they are comparably more conservative.

Further, young people often move to big cities after growing up in a small town or rural area. It can be a natural progression — especially if they go to college. Younger people tend to vote Democrat. The result is that rural areas can have fewer younger people who would otherwise vote Democrat and can be more conservative as a result of that. In turn, rural areas are much older, conservative and less diverse than a major metropolitan area.

Jason Carter Georgia State of the State Response - 2014

Tippett named as one of the top 50 Republicans in Georgia

Appling County political activist Pat Tippett was recently recognized as one of the state’s top 50 Republican influences according to Campaigns and Elections’ Politics Magazine.

The article lists the top 10 for both Democrats and the GOP. Tippett is included in the “next 40” section for each party.

The listing referred to Tippett as “a leading figure in the state’s evangelical wing.”

Tippett has been active in the Republican Party since 1993 and has held numerous titles. She is Co-Founder of Georgia Conservatives in Action. At the present Tippett serves as the First Congressional District Chair of the Party.