Georgia Voters Head to the Polls With Healthcare, Iran War, and Data Centers on Their Minds
By Colleen Hamilton
The 2026 midterms are Georgians’ first chance to deliver a verdict on President Donald Trump’s second term—and by every early measure, they’re eager to do it.
More than two million Georgians cast ballots during early voting, and millions more are expected at the polls today.
“People are chomping at the bit to vote,” said John Hurley, a Fulton County voter.
In the days leading up to Election Day, Courier Georgia political correspondent Colleen Hamilton spoke with voters about what’s driving them to the polls.
Five concerns came up again and again: healthcare, the war with Iran, the spread of data centers, the tone of the campaign, and corruption in Washington.
Healthcare: ‘Just a crazy thing’
Healthcare has been one of the defining issues of this election cycle. Premiums in Georgia have skyrocketed since Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Georgia remains one of 10 states that have not adopted the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion—a decision that has frustrated voters across the state.
“The overwhelming issue for me is Medicaid expansion,” said Paul Bolster, outside the early voting site at Beulah Heights University.
“It’s just a crazy thing that we would not take all of that federal money and get all those people covered.”
Bolster argued that expansion would double as economic development, sending millions of dollars to hospitals and medical providers across the state.
For younger voters, the issue is about who gets left behind. Marcus Hepburn, a Georgia State University (GSU) student, said he’s voting for a government that “actually cares about our communities”—which, to him, means investing in Medicare.
Kiarah, a fellow GSU student, agreed.
“Medicaid and Medicare is very important to me,” she said, pointing to vulnerable people, including those experiencing homelessness, who struggle to get care.
The issue sits at the center of the governor’s race.
Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, has made Medicaid expansion a centerpiece of her campaign. Her Republican opponent, billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson, has said he supports “intelligent Medicaid expansion,” but has offered few details about what that would look like.
Demands to end the Iran War
Since the war with Iran began in February, 60% of Americans have said they oppose it. For some voters, it’s a broken promise: Trump campaigned on ending “forever wars.” Now, they say, they’re voting to make clear they don’t want new entanglements abroad.
“We need to stop bombing Iran,” said Eli Irby, a GSU student.
“Right now, a lot of our involvement in other countries is actually hurting us more than it’s helping us. I think we need to focus on problems in our own country.”
Hurley believes the war and other foreign entanglements are a major reason turnout is so high.
“Everyone who’s paying attention realizes how dire the situation is,” he said. “Not only here, but also globally.”
Data centers: An unlikely bipartisan flashpoint
Few issues have scrambled Georgia’s partisan lines like data centers.
In a recent AJC poll, three out of five Georgians said they don’t want Georgia to build more data centers, and voters in both parties are looking for leaders willing to slow the industry’s rapid growth.
The boom is real.
Metro Atlanta now has more data center capacity under construction than any other market in the country, overtaking Northern Virginia this year, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE.
Nyah, a GSU student, worries about what that growth means for nearby communities: Corporations, she said, are “taking water from them, polluting the air” without regard for the consequences.
The tone of the race: ‘We should try to build each other up.’
This is the most expensive election in American history, outpacing even the 2024 presidential race. A significant portion of that money has gone to advertising, and in Georgia, much of it has been bitter. Ads featuring Secoria Turner, the 8-year-old girl killed in Atlanta in 2020, ran without her family’s consent. Sen. Jon Ossoff has repeatedly called his Republican challenger, US Rep. Mike Collins, a “bigot.” And Trump has attacked Ossoff with an obscene nickname.
Many voters said they’re tired of the vitriol.
“We need to focus on political leaders who treat others with respect,” Irby said. “Without any conservatives, I think our country would fail. But I think without any liberals, our country would fail. We should try to build each other up rather than tearing each other down.”
Hurley said he hopes his vote advances the values that matter most to him: “Inclusion, tolerance, patience, humanity.”
And Bolster, despite Ossoff’s sometimes fiery rhetoric, sees the senator as uniquely able to hold together a multiracial coalition with a forward-looking, anti-corruption message.
“He has the potential to change Southern politics,” Bolster said.
Corruption: ‘Cannot be ignored’
For Bolster and Hepburn, the frustrations they voiced over healthcare and the war came back to a single question: who is the government really working for? When they turned to Washington, neither held back.
“It’s just shocking the amount of corruption that has taken over the federal government,” Bolster said. “You have a president who has increased his personal wealth by $2 billion over the past twelve months.”
Hepburn agreed. “What’s happening in DC cannot be ignored,” he said. “We have a president who is more focused on enriching himself”—all while, in Hepburn’s view, life is getting harder for everyday Americans.
Polls are open today until 7 p.m.
