Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen (D) “launched a campaign Tuesday to become Georgia’s next top election official, promising to expand voting rights in a state where a brutal and ongoing battle over ballot access has only intensified with recent Republican defeats,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

“The Atlanta lawmaker would be the first Asian-American elected to a statewide political office in Georgia history if she flips the seat held by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.”

“Her campaign, long expected by local Democrats, further transforms a contest that in some past Georgia election cycles was hardly an afterthought – and is now poised to be one of the nation’s most-watched down-ballot elections.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Only three months removed from supercharged, nationalized elections, Georgia candidates are already lining up to run for statewide office, the U.S. Senate and congressional seats in 2022, seeking a head start in what will be another tumultuous political season in one of the nation’s premier battleground states.”

“It’s all part of what is quickly becoming a seemingly nonstop campaign season in the country’s newest swing state as Democrats try to build on their upset wins in November and January to capture other statewide seats that have eluded them for more than a decade.”

Said veteran GOP strategist Chip Lake: “Georgia was the center of the political universe in the last cycle, and we just might be the center of the political universe this cycle. Whether we want to be or not.”

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Georgia finds Joe Biden edging Donald Trump in the presidential race, 47% to 46%.

“Democrats set a new turnout record for primary voting in last week’s Georgia vote, soaring past 1 million voters to outpace Republicans during an election plagued by significant obstacles at polling sites,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

“Support for Trump was unquestionable, and colorful, as more than 1,500 delegates to the Georgia Republican Party gathered last week for an annual convention in this port city and tourist Mecca… But in conversations with the Washington Examiner, veteran GOP activists were sober about the challenges confronting Trump in Georgia absent a significant investment in resources.”

“Reliably red since the mid-1990s, the state is in transition, spurred by Democratic gains in the Atlanta suburbs that are partly a byproduct of a rejection of the president. Republicans, chastened by last year’s razor-thin gubernatorial contest, say this evolution might have reached a tipping point.”

The electoral map becomes very tough for Trump if he cannot hold Georgia.