Atlanta Andre
 | |
| Era | The Modern Era |
|---|---|
| Age | 30-40 |
| Home | Atlanta, GA |
| Demographic | urban, Black, middle-class |
| Lean | Lean Democrat |
| Race | black |
| Predecessor | Greensboro Jasmine |
Andre is a schoolteacher in his thirties in Atlanta. He is a loyal Black Democrat from the moderate wing of the party, who votes reliably in every election and expects schools, health care and voting rights protection in return.
Who they stand for
Andre stands for the Black middle class of the Atlanta suburbs, the fastest-growing part of the Democratic coalition in the South and a major reason Georgia stopped being a reliably Republican state. Counties such as Henry, Rockdale and Douglas turned Democratic as Black families moved out of the city of Atlanta into the suburbs, and their turnout helped produce Biden's margin of under 12,000 votes in Georgia in 2020 and the Democratic wins in the two Georgia Senate run-off elections of January 2021. Andre chose Biden over Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primaries, as most Black voters over thirty did across the South after the South Carolina primary. He read the Georgia election law passed in 2021 as aimed at reducing turnout among voters like him.
Greensboro Jasmine, an earlier persona, was a student who was angered by the government's failures after Hurricane Katrina. Andre is older and more settled. He owns a house, teaches in a public school, and asks the Democratic Party for practical results, such as school funding and Medicaid, rather than for an apology for past wrongs.
Playing to them
Andre responds well to results delivered in the areas he cares about, such as school funding, Medicaid, a voting-rights bill, or money for historically Black colleges. He will not vote Republican, so what a president can win or lose with him is his enthusiasm rather than his vote. A Democratic president who spends his term on symbolic fights loses that enthusiasm without losing Andre's vote. A voter-identification law, a police killing that goes unpunished, or a Democratic president who makes gestures toward the hard right ends Andre's willingness to engage further.
A president who wins Andre's support by backing teachers' unions and public schools loses the support of Edison Chen, who wants school vouchers and charter school places, and of Bayou Clarence, who wants school choice and regards the voting-rights argument as a familiar tactic rather than a real concern. Winning Andre's support on voting rights also turns Iowa Martha and Texas Tom against the president. Andre is easier to satisfy than Brooklyn Jamal and slower to become angry than Gospel Gloria, which makes him the least costly of the cast's Black Democratic voters to keep.
Where they live
The five states where Atlanta Andre makes up the largest share of the electorate in the modern era:
- Georgia
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- South Carolina
Lineage
Baltimore Kiana → Greensboro Jasmine → Atlanta Andre
The Black Democrat whose family moves from welfare to the middle class in one generation. Kiana is the welfare mother the 1996 reform was aimed at. Jasmine is her daughter at college, angry at the government over Katrina and quick to call things racist. Andre is Jasmine in her thirties: a teacher, voting Democrat every time, frustrated that the party talks about culture wars instead of schools and health care. The party loyalty does not change. The anger becomes pragmatism as the family becomes middle class. The line is defined by race and class, not by sex.