Georgia at a Glance State Profile - Gov. Barnes (D) - Sen. Cleland (D) - Sen. Miller (D) Presidential Politics Congressional Districting - 01 - Kingston (R) - 02 - Bishop Jr. (D) - 03 - Collins (R) - 04 - McKinney (D) - 05 - Lewis (D) - 06 - Isakson (R) - 07 - Barr (R) - 08 - Chambliss (R) - 09 - Deal (R) - 10 - Norwood (R) - 11 - Linder (R) Almanac 2000 Home States & Districts Elected Officials For district profiles and additional information on the elected officials of Georgia, please use the pull-down menu above.

In the last years of the 20th Century, the hills and mountains of north Georgia have suddenly become one of the boom areas of the South. This is a sharp turn in their history. Since the Cherokee were driven out early in the 19th Century, this has been poor country, where small farmers scratched a living off rocky land. It was devastated by the Civil War, by General Sherman's troops and because so many young men who left to fight for the Confederacy (and a few who left from mountain counties to fight for the Union) never returned. After the war not much changed for a while. Most communities lived in isolation; roads with hairpin curves led to remote hills where until very recently moonshine stills were more common than summer cabins. In time, textile mills began springing up along the railroads, around Gainesville poultry production became a big business, and in Dalton the craft tradition of tufted bedspread handiwork was transformed into the world's largest carpet industry, producing 60% of the world's tufted carpet. But these were low-wage industries and all-white; there had never been many slaves here, and in 1912 Forsyth County made headlines when it drove out its few black residents.

In the 1980s and especially the 1990s there has been a rush of change. Interstate highways have brought north Georgia in easy range of the world-city of Atlanta; the carpet industry has become more high-tech; small manufacturing is booming, with higher-skill work replacing low-tech mills; vacation and retirement communities have been built in mountains and around lakes. Forsyth and Cherokee counties are now part of the booming ring around Atlanta, even 50-plus miles from Peachtree Street. So tight are the labor markets that tens of thousands of Latinos from Texas and Latin countries have come to Dalton, Gainesville and the area around to snap up the jobs the boom is creating.

The 9th Congressional District covers the whole northern end of the state, from the Georgia suburbs of Chattanooga and Dalton in the west to the old Republican and new resort counties in the east. It extends south to include Forsyth County and part of Cherokee. A few counties here have always been Republican, many started switching in the 1970s and 1980s, and Cherokee and Forsyth now are among the most heavily Republican counties in the South--or anywhere. Economic prosperity and cultural traditionalism have sent politics here in one direction, even against national tides: Despite north Georgia native Governor Zell Miller's strong support for Bill Clinton, every county in the 9th District voted for Bob Dole in 1996.

The congressman from the 9th District is Nathan Deal, first elected in 1992, who switched parties and became a Republican in April 1995. Deal grew up in Gainesville, went to Mercer University, then served in the Army from 1966-68; he returned home to practice ''street level law,'' with offices always on the ground floor, and public offices a young lawyer takes as civic duty: assistant district attorney, juvenile court judge, county attorney. In 1980, at 38, he was elected to the state Senate as a Democrat; Jimmy Carter was still president, the legislature was overwhelmingly Democratic, and it would have been quixotic to run as a Republican. He proved a capable legislator and was elected Senate president pro tem in 1989 and 1991. In 1992, with the retirement of 16-year incumbent Ed Jenkins, a power on the Ways and Means Committee, Deal ran, defeating a Republican abortion opponent with 59% of the vote.

In the House, Deal opposed the new Clinton Administration's economic policies, voting against the 1993 budget, for the line-item veto and balanced budget amendment; he helped found a 26-Democrat Fiscal Caucus and in 1994 co-sponsored a version of the ''A to Z'' spending cuts plan, which called for a special session of the House to consider budget cuts. Many saw Deal as a potential party-switcher, but while campaigning in 1994 he said, ''If I choose to switch during the term, I think the honest thing to do is resign and have a special election.'' He beat an underfunded Republican, but with only 58%--a sign of increasing Republican sentiment.

In early 1995 he soldiered on as a Democrat and worked with other Democrats to offer an alternative to the Republicans' welfare reform package, which got the votes of every Democrat and a few Republicans as well. On Monday, April 3, Deal was saying how pleased he was by Democrats' support for his welfare reform package. On Wednesday, April 5, he found himself at odds with Democrats' opposition to tax cuts and with senior Democrats' criticisms of Clean Water Act revision proposals he and Louisiana's Jimmy Hayes (later a party-switcher himself) had gotten approved on a bipartisan committee vote. On Monday, April 10, back home in Gainesville for the congressional recess, Deal announced he was switching--the first party-switcher in the 104th Congress. He said the national Democratic Party was unwilling to admit it was ''out of touch with mainstream America,'' and ''I think that it is important that at some point you get away from the schizophrenia I have had to deal with.'' Democrats were stunned, and Newt Gingrich was clearly delighted; Deal was rewarded with a seat on the Commerce Committee. He also sits on Education--both his parents and his wife were teachers.

Deal has not proved to be a totally party-line Republican. In July 1996 he backed the minimum wage increase and in August 1998 he supported the Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill. But his voting record was mostly conservative, and constituents did not protest vehemently at the Tailgate Talk public meetings he holds in town squares every summer. Deal worked to get a community veterans' clinic opened in Gainesville in October 1998, sponsored a Web site for disabled people to become aware of assistive technology, and was a co-sponsor of Megan's Law. He worked on the 1996 immigration law and in 1997 opposed extension of a provision allowing green card applicants to pay a $1,000 fine and file for legal residency while staying in the United States. He sponsored higher penalties for illegal aliens and smugglers of aliens. Deal said he was aware that this may hurt politically in a district with a rapidly-growing Hispanic population, but ''We're a nation of laws. It's our responsibility to forge support for the concept of law.''

Deal had no opposition in the 1996 Republican primary, and in the general election, against a well-funded state legislator, he won 66%-34%, running especially strong among suburbanites in Cherokee (73%) and Forsyth (79%) Counties. In 1998 he was unopposed.

Cook's Call:
Safe. Sometimes party-switches take, sometimes they don't; clearly, Deal's 1995 switch worked, as he has won by large margins since 1995. This is a solidly conservative, Republican district, and Deal has a good hold on it.

The People:

• Pop. 1990: 589,355
• 78% rural; 12.2% age 65+;
• 94.8% White, 3.6% Black, 0.4% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 1.5% Hispanic origin; 0.9% Other.
• Households: 64.9% married couple families; 31.8% married couple fams. w. children; 29.6% college educ.; median household income: $26,631; per capita income: $12,062; median gross rent: $276; median house value: $62,700.

1996 Presidential Vote Dole (R) 115,306 (55%) Clinton (D) 73,861 (35%) Perot (I) 20,809 (10%)

1992 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 98,205 (49%) Clinton (D) 70,943 (35%) Perot (I) 32,808 (16%)