At a rally in Savannah, Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris’ speech resembled Reagan’s “Morning in America” but was delivered in the same setting for the iconic suspense novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story. To my surprise, the end result resembled a rock concert.
Years ago, during my first trip to Savannah, I listened to the audiobook of that bestselling Savannah story by John Berendt. The first thing that struck me was how insular the town was.
“For me, Savannah’s resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large,” Berendt wrote. “It grew inward, too, and in such a way that its people flourished like hothouse plants tended by an indulgent gardener. The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived.”
In other words, Savannah doesn’t necessarily resemble a good place for a campaign event. Nor do they take well to outsiders, especially those telling locals what to do.
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"People come here from all over the country and fall in love with Savannah,” Berendt noted. “Then they move here and pretty soon they’re telling us how much more lively and prosperous Savannah could be if we only knew what we had and how to take advantage of it. I call these people ‘Gucci carpetbaggers.’”
I cringed at how locals might react to a California prosecutor coming into Savannah for these very reasons, especially at a rally for a brand new, almost out-of-place hockey arena for the “Savannah Ghost Pirates.” Wouldn’t Columbus or Augusta be more welcoming to the VP?
To my surprise, Kamala Harris was a hit. A local outstanding DJ got the crowd going with hits that spanned the decades. Cell phones became flashlights as they turned down the lights. Mayor Van Johnson prepared the crowd well, noting all the help that the Biden-Harris team had given to the city. Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams, who won the seat John Lewis represented for years, adroitly reminded the audience what was at stake.
It’s worth noting that in Reagan’s “Morning In America” campaign, the country faced persistently high unemployment in 1984, but the Republicans that year pointed to progress and noted “we can’t go back” to the last administration, something Team Harris-Walz effectively emphasized.
Would the city go for this new approach? “Savannah was invariably gracious to strangers, but it was immune to their charms,” Berendt wrote. “It wanted nothing so much as to be left alone.”
But in this case, the audience was charmed. Harris’ speech managed to thread the needle between being specifically preachy and vaguely flattering to the locals. Rather than promise a whole new “New Deal” she focused on some modest but meaningful policy ideas. These ranged from tax credits to new parents to tax breaks for building new homes. The targeted plans sounded affordable. It was the right call. After all, Berendt quipped, “If there’s a single trait common to all Savannahians, it’s their love of money and their unwillingness to spend it.”
Mingling with the crowd after a day spent in smaller towns or in the market might have also seemed quirky, but that’s how Savannah seems to like it.
Riding back with the locals and volunteers, the vibe was like leaving Woodstock. They couldn’t wait to canvass for the Harris-Walz Team, put up yard signs, and encourage their neighbors to vote. Gone was my prediction of merely some polite golf claps and shaking heads at a cookie-cutter campaign event, the way one attendee described being a Dukakis delegate at the convention in Atlanta in 1988. It resembled the enthusiasm Obama conjured up back in 2008 in a city that can often get blessedly unenthusiastic about anything new and exciting.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.
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