With 2024’s close, a quarter of the years beginning with “20” are now complete. For those of us who remember the flip from the 1900s to the 2000s, it’s hard to believe so much time has passed.
(We also recall the nit-pickers who noted the 20th century, and thus the millennium, ended not with 1999 but with 2000. But that’s not the way most people think or talk about such things.)
America’s a vastly different place in many ways. You could still walk friends to their gate at the airport, because 9/11 hadn’t happened yet. Tech staples such as iPhones and Facebook and ChatGPT hadn’t been invented. Dick Cheney was on the Republican ticket, and RFK Jr. backed the Democrat.
Georgia is different, too. It’s worth recalling a few of the notable changes.
Politics: From blue to red to … purple?
In 2000, George W. Bush won Georgia, but at the state level we remained part of the “solid South.” Democrats held six of eight statewide constitutional offices. That included a Democratic governor, as Georgia had had since 1872.
In 2002 that changed: Sonny Perdue won a stunning upset over incumbent Roy Barnes. By 2010, the GOP held all eight statewide constitutional offices. It holds them still.
But no one expects the Republicans to rule for 130 years. Democrats broke through in 2020, pushing Joe Biden past Donald Trump here and taking both U.S. Senate seats. The GOP controls the state legislature by a slightly smaller margin today (100-80 in the House, 33-23 in the Senate) than the Democrats had after the 1998 elections (102-78 and 34-22).
Still, Trump recaptured Georgia in 2024. And the GOP’s narrow legislative margins are not quite as slender as many expected. A true test looms in 2026, when Gov. Brian Kemp leaves office and other office holders seek promotions.
Demographics: The boom continues but slows.
The 2000 census was the sixth straight showing Georgia’s rate of population growth in double digits. At 26.4%, it was the state’s fastest rate of growth in 120 years. While the rate of change has slowed considerably, the Census Bureau estimates Georgia has added about 3 million more residents since 2000 to surpass 11.1 million.
The makeup of our population has also shifted. In 2000, almost two-thirds of Georgians were white; census estimates for 2024 show their proportion fell under 50%. While Georgia’s black population has grown to 33%, the most dramatic changes have come in other groups: Both Hispanics and Asian-Americans have doubled their share of Georgia’s population since 2000, to 11.1% and 4.9%, respectively.
The state’s population continues to shift toward metro Atlanta, too: from 50% in 2000 to over 57% today.
Economics: Growing, for better and worse.
Which comes first, the jobs or the people? Both have grown significantly. In 2000, Kia wasn’t building cars in West Point, nor Hyundai outside of Savannah. Neither Mercedes-Benz nor Porsche had moved its North American headquarters to metro Atlanta. And that’s just the automotive sector – with a new Rivian plant near Madison still expected.
Numerous companies seeking tech talent have set up shop near Georgia Tech, transforming midtown Atlanta. SunTrust merged with BB&T and became Truist, necessitating a name change at the Braves’ Cobb County ballpark (which itself would have surprised fans a quarter-century ago, who were just getting used to “the Ted”).
The tech bubble, Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many industries. But the financial crisis took a particular toll on home builders, putting many out of business. Combined with a continued influx of new residents – and many policy decisions made in the face of these trends – Georgia has developed a home-affordability problem. It may be one of the strongest headwinds we face.
That’s just a snippet of the change we’ve seen. I’ll leave the cultural analyses to others, taking only a moment to point out my Georgia Bulldogs have become perennial title contenders (and back-to-back national champs). While more change is inevitable, that’s one thing I hope will stay the same.