Slide 1: In this slide, I’ve detailed the history and electoral margins of the past 10 years of elections. Jack Kingston was a 13-term representative, winning by percentages above 60 and a few uncontested primaries. After he retired to run for Senate in 2014, Buddy Carter became his successor narrowly winning primaries in the only runoff within these 10 years. The past two elections have had very interesting results. In 2016, Carter won the Republican primary without opposition from either side until Nathan Russo wrote-in as a candidate, garnering very little support at the voting polls. Last election, Carter won by the narrowest margin by any candidate since before Kingston’s reign as representative. This is an extremely significant and stark difference from the circumstances of the previous election.
Slide 2:The table details breakdowns of the native and foreign-born communities. This district has a very small immigrant population, but of this population, there are noteworthy statistics. Even though Hispanics constitute 5.0% of the extremely large native-born population, they make up over half of the non-citizen immigrants. Out of all the four groups, non-citizens have the highest percentage of people without a high school degree and of working individuals making the lowest income on the table. I found it particularly interesting that while almost a third of working non-citizen immigrants make low incomes, naturalized citizens have the highest percentage of people making the largest incomes, even more so than the native population. As mentioned on the title slide, GA-1 is not a very rural area and is, in fact, quite urbanized. Therefore, in this slide I’ve emphasized that there are many other sectors that more significant to the region than agriculture. Finally, another notable statistic is the large growth within the Hispanic immigrant population in 2017 compared to just one year before.
Slide 3:I’ve pulled important arguments and points from various pieces of literature that correspond with relevant facts and statistics about the district and Buddy Carter. The words colored in red are meant to emphasize when the research is identifying a factor that is positively correlated with restrictive stances and actions, while the green-colored words are meant to do the same but for factors positively correlated with permissive or less restrictive stances and actions. Based on characteristics from the slide before, I make predictions using the relevant finding. There was not much definitive research on correlations between income brackets or employment levels of immigrant groups and the policymaking of Congressmen, but there was enough research about other characteristics for me to be able to make a firm prediction.
Slide 4:The overall tone and agenda of Carter, based on the types of immigration bills he supported and content of his website and twitter, is outwardly restrictive and focused on securing the border. The language he uses on his website and during interviews illustrates a grave threat beyond the Southern border that needs to be addressed through tougher law enforcement. Immigration is not a large part of his policymaking or platform, but he still makes his position very clear and in accordance with most members of his party in this era of hyperpartisanship.
