I'm Kimberly Atkins-Store and this is on point.

Georgia voters are headed back to the polls in just a few weeks, start of an election

year that on the whole doesn't look optimistic for Democrats.

Midterm elections are always a challenge for the party in the White House, but in Georgia,

Democrats believe the long-term future is bright.

A once solid red state, Joe Biden won it in 2020.

Dems also now hold both of the state's Senate seats.

But will Georgia shift toward Democrats last?

Or is it's purple status a product of the unique moment brought on by Donald Trump?

Greg Bluestine is a political reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution and author

of a new book, Flipped How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Republican Monopoly.

Before we talk about what's going on in the current election, Greg, can you take us

back to election night 2020, were the Republicans optimistic about Donald Trump going in?

Oh, yeah.

And by the way, thank you so much for having me.

I'm so happy to be here.

But yes, they were optimistic.

They weren't caught off guard by the Democratic energy and momentum, but they were very

optimistic going into election.

And I was sitting there on the front row of David Perdue's election watch party in the

fancy Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead.

And there was just the sense of optimism, of energy, of excitement.

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