The Tale of Two Douglas Counties

A reader sent in a note saying that they were looking for Douglas County Democrats, found two (one in Colorado, one in Georgia), and was amazed at the obvious difference in energy from the two websites. Douglas County, CO Democrats have a number of events going on in preparation for municipal elections. Douglas County, GA Democrats still have links to the 2024 election qualifying documents and not a lot of party organizing.

If you assume that the websites reflect the level of excitement and involvement for each party committee, which isn’t a foregone conclusion (though in 2025 it would be very strange for an active party committee to have an inactive website), then I have a suggestion for why that might be.

Douglas, CO sits between the very blue Denver and suburban counties, and red El Paso County. However, like El Paso County, Douglas is slowly turning somewhat purple. It’s part of Lauren Bobert’s new CO-4 district, and Bobert and her not-well-financed opponent were within 1,400 votes of the over 230K votes cast in Douglas. (Trump beat Harris 52/45 in Douglas.) So, with the right candidate, county-wide races in Douglas could be won by a Democrat. Douglas, CO Democrats see this — they even had a primary last year to pick a candidate to oppose one of the three Republican County Commissioners. The Democrat lost that race, but, again, it’s the sign of health to have multiple candidates who want to run in a tough race.

In short, it’s possible that Douglas, CO will have some Democrats in county offices in a few years, and maybe they’ll cause Boebert to spend money and time in the county for her next race, especially since 2026 is going to be an ugly one for Trumpers like Boebert. (I have no illusions about Boebert being unseated in her new chosen R+13 district, but at least we can make her work for her seat.)

Douglas County, GA is a different story. Until the last election, it straddled two Congressional districts, D+28 GA-13 and R+18 GA-3. GA-13 contained the southern and western Atlanta suburbs and was 50% black. GA-3 is the rural western part of Douglas County and is 64% white. In 2024, redistricting put Douglas, GA in GA-6, which is supposedly R+11 but went for Harris 75/25, so I think Cook Political’s PVIs are still catching up with the redistricting. From what I can tell, GA-3, the Republican district, stayed roughly the same in Douglas, GA.

Anyway, for purposes of this piece, let’s look at GA-13, which is represented by 12-term 79 year-old David Scott. Yes, it’s possible that you were born and graduated college having the same Representative in GA-13. If you look at the county commissioners, there are 3 Dems and 1 Republican -- similar for other offices (school board, GA House). The county is split along racial and party lines between the whiter, Republican western part and the more black, Democratic eastern part.

If you are a Democratic Party where the same person has been in the House for two dozen years, and where that district is a gimme for Democrats, and similarly the other part of the county is a gimme for Republicans, you’re in a state of political stasis. Potential candidates are sitting around waiting their turn, and jockeying with each other to make sure that nobody butts in line.

As I write this, my BlueSky bubble is full of anti-Schumer posts. Schumer, who regularly wins his elections with 70% of the vote (2022 was the exception at 57%) is doing what his political history has trained him to do: fight off challenges to his position. He’s been all over the media this week, far more visible than usual, mounting what I’d consider lousy defenses of last week’s CR cave. Schumer is to New York as David Scott is to GA-13.

In a blue state like New York, it’s tough to avoid political stasis when one party has been in charge for decades. But it’s not as difficult in Congressional districts. I will write about this more someday, but in brief, I wonder what the Douglas GA Democrats would look like if they were part of one district that was like a pie slice, the pointy end being the suburban Atlanta suburbs and the wide end being western Douglas GA. Say, a D+8 district. Overall, I think D+X districts are a lot more healthy for the party than D+XX districts. But try telling that to incumbents who have been in their seats since the last century.