President Donald Trump’s visit to Wheeler High School on Wednesday packs a political punch far beyond the rollout of his new savings program for children.
His trip to the Cobb County school district alongside Georgia’s marquee GOP nominees comes at one of the last Republican-controlled institutions in a county that has become a pillar of Democrats’ statewide strategy.
After decades of GOP dominance, Democrats now hold a majority of Cobb’s state legislative delegation, control the county commission and occupy the sheriff’s office, district attorney’s post and nearly every other partisan countywide office.
But the school board is the most notable exception, where Republicans cling to a narrow 4-3 majority after years of bruising elections. That divide has become more pronounced as national politics seep into local education fights. Now Trump is stepping into the fray.
“We have people coming from all over, not just to protest but to make a statement,” said Essence Johnson, who leads the Cobb County Democratic Committee. “Georgia is up for grabs this year and we will not let an election meddling bully come into our county without pushback.”
Meanwhile, local and state Republicans are eager to roll out the welcome mat. Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon said the new “Trump Accounts” the president is promoting will show Republicans are “trying to do what we can to assist with the affordability crisis.”
Former Cobb GOP Chair Jason Shepherd, a Kennesaw State University political scientist, said the presidential visit should be a source of local pride.
“Anyone trying to turn Trump’s visit into a partisan food fight is telling you more about their priorities than about Cobb’s,” Shepherd said. “Sometimes we all need to stop being Republicans and Democrats for a minute and just be Americans.”
A political transformation
Credit: Andy Sharp
Credit: Andy Sharp
The visit marks at least the third trip by a president or presidential nominee to a Cobb County high school.
In 2003, President George W. Bush held a rally at Harrison High School in Kennesaw. Five years later, then-Democratic nominee Barack Obama staged a town hall at McEachern High School in Powder Springs.
That was a different political era, when Cobb was a cradle of Georgia GOP power and home base to figures including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.
An influx of younger, more diverse residents helped fuel the transformation. Trump’s rise turbocharged the defection of independent and college-educated suburban voters who once reliably backed Republicans.
In 2012, Mitt Romney carried the county by more than 12 percentage points. Four years later, Hillary Clinton won it by about 2 percentage points, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Cobb since Jimmy Carter was president.
Joe Biden expanded the margin to roughly 14 points in 2020, and Kamala Harris pushed it to nearly 15 points in 2024 even as Trump recaptured Georgia statewide. Now Cobb is at the center of any Democratic coalition in Georgia.
Even so, the county remains one of Georgia’s biggest troves of GOP votes. It cast more GOP ballots than any other county in the May primary and June’s GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate. And it produced more Trump votes in 2024 than every Georgia county except Gwinnett, another Democratic bastion.
A Republican holdout
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
The school board, meanwhile, has remained a GOP stronghold. The partisan divide has turned the school system into a recurring front in battles over books, education curriculum, immigration and the authority of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
During the pandemic, Cobb lifted a mask mandate despite pleas from the local health board. The board also banned the teaching of critical race theory, an academic framework frequently targeted by conservative Republicans that’s usually reserved for college campuses.
In 2023, the board voted along party lines to fire teacher Katie Rinderle after she read fifth graders a book challenging gender stereotypes. She was believed to be Georgia’s first public schoolteacher punished under classroom restrictions enacted by GOP lawmakers a year earlier.
The district has also removed dozens of books it deemed sexually explicit from school libraries, including titles flagged by the national conservative account Libs of TikTok. That prompted a federal complaint accusing the district of creating a hostile learning environment.
National politics surfaced again in January, when Cobb administrators warned students that joining an anti-Trump immigration walkout during school hours could risk suspension and the loss of other privileges.
Credit: Cassidy Alexander
Credit: Cassidy Alexander
Democratic critics see the visit as another sign of the district’s partisan tilt. State Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, said school leaders have made clear the system “takes orders from the Republican Party and its lawyers.”
The visit is already reverberating through the school board race. Indivisible Cobb plans a “No Kings” rally near Wheeler High School’s gates, while local Democrats say Micheal Garza has seen a surge in donations to his November campaign to unseat Republican board member David Chastain.
“Parents and taxpayers are not happy about this, and they will be making their voices heard this November,” said Johnson.
Chastain, meanwhile, is hosting an Aug. 17 fundraiser with U.S. Rep. Clay Fuller, the Trump-backed Republican who succeeded Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The school district, for its part, is casting the Trump visit as a chance to promote its academic programs.
“We look forward to welcoming the president and showcasing the high-quality academic choices which make Cobb the best place to raise a family,” said John Floresta, the district’s chief strategy and accountability officer.
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