Younger Black Voters Powered Georgia Turnout as Black Share of Electorate Rose to a Decade High

Black participation reaches a high

The Black share of Georgia’s electorate climbed to its highest point in more than a decade. Among voters younger than 30, Black turnout surpassed young white turnout, the first time that had happened since 2012.

The two patterns contributed to a substantial shift toward Democrats in Georgia. Black voters in the state are overwhelmingly Democratic, so even a modest rise in their share of the electorate can deliver meaningful gains for the party.

Young voters shift left

Voters under 30 across racial groups fueled much of the increase in Democratic support. Their move toward Democrats was more than twice as large as the shift among Georgia voters overall.

Young voters had moved modestly toward Donald Trump in 2024, before swinging back to the left this time. Midterm turnout often falls, especially among younger people, though young white voters have recently tended to turn out at higher rates in both midterm and presidential elections.

Voting rights drew scrutiny

Black voter enthusiasm, especially across the South, was closely monitored during the midterm elections. In April, a Supreme Court ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act and prompted redistricting that reduced Black representation in several states.

How turnout was measured

The Georgia Secretary of State’s voter history files were matched with contemporaneous voter files to calculate turnout by race and age as a share of registered voters. The figures exclude voters classified as “other” or “unknown” for race.

Times Voter Trends reported that more than 95 percent of Black voters in Georgia voted for Mr. Ossoff this year. Evan Reynolds works in The Times’s Election Analytics department and is a member of the 2026-27 Times Fellowship for early-career journalists.