The Harris campaign’s most defining quality is its emphasis on joy, a quality that fittingly brought Georgia to the forefront of this year’s Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Repeated like a mantra at every rally, “joy” has carried us into a stratosphere that was unthinkable a mere two months ago. The vice-presidential selection of the cheerful and fatherly Tim Walz of Minnesota solidified it: Democrats are a party of the happy warrior. 
This message resonates deep with a public weary from 10 years of dealing with Donald Trump, and it resonates deeply with Georgia, a state that rejected him four years ago.
Already a tour-de-force of talent and technological prowess, Georgians dominated the night each time they spoke.
Senator Raphael Warnock took the stage on the first night to share a fiery sermon about his life, in which a child “raised in the projects” grew up to not only preach at Martin Luther King’s church, but also to become the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate.
Warnock dedicated the opening of his speech to his mother, Verlene Warnock.
“She grew up in Waycross, GA, where she picked other people’s cotton and other people’s tobacco. But because this is America, and the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton and somebody else’s tobacco, picked her youngest son to be a United States Senator!”
Warnock also reminded voters of the stark contrast between the history he and Jon Ossoff made on Jan. 5 and the insurrection attempt that happened the following day.
“We must choose between the promise of January 5th and the peril of January 6th. A nation that embraces all of us or just some of us,” Warnock said.
Jason Carter, former state senator and grandson of Jimmy Carter, helped open the second night.
“Though his body may be weak tonight, his spirit is as strong as ever,” Carter said. “Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy. She knows what is right and she fights for it.”
Georgia later took the convention hall by storm with a performance by Atlanta rapper Lil Jon, who performed a medley of “Turn Down for What” and a tweaked rendition of “Get Low,” in which he sang, “to the window, to the walls, VP Harris, and Governor Walz!” before leading the audience into thunderous chants of “we’re not going back!”
He then passed the mic to Congresswoman Nikema Williams to officially pledge the Peach State’s delegates, who perfectly summed up the “kamalanomenon” that has swept the former red state: “Mr. Chairman, the South’s got something to say!”
For all the optimism and joy, however, GA’s final two speakers came from a different place, one of both pain and purpose. Former Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan—a former Trump supporter—candidly spoke about the trauma he and his family have dealt with after receiving graphically violent threats from supporters of the former president.
“Look, you don’t have to agree with every policy position of Kamala Harris—I don’t. But you do have to recognize her prosecutor mindset that understands right from wrong, good from evil.”
Duncan concluded, saying, “Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home watching: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you’re not a Democrat. You’re a patriot.” 
The final and most powerful speech came from Congresswoman Lucy McBath. A rising star in the state, her path to office has been full of heartbreak. In 2012, McBath lost her 17-year-old son Jordan in a shooting and has since found purpose in her grief, advocating for common sense gun control to protect children like her own.
She stood on stage with other mothers who had lost children to gun violence, all wearing the same pained and devastated expression.
“Our stories are of loss, but make no mistake—our losses do not weaken us. They strengthen our resolve. We will secure safer futures that we all deserve,” McBath said.
GA is a state of happy warriors and a place of optimism and hope, not despair and division. Four years ago, we decided that we want better for ourselves and our country. We decided that we deserve better.
Our country deserves to be led by someone who lifts others up, someone who is willing to roll up her sleeves and fight for what is right. Luckily, this year we not only have that person, but one who will do so with a smile.