3 women from different backgrounds detail why they're voting for Harris

The state of Georgia has never elected a female governor or U.S. senator. So, given that fact, we wanted to know: Are Georgians ready to make history and cast their 16 electoral votes for the first woman president?

In mid-September, NPR sat down with three women of different ages, races and religions who have seen politics in Georgia evolve through multiple election cycles. Each said they were voting for Kamala Harris this November, and detailed what her candidacy meant to them.

Read and listen to more of All Things Considered's recent trip to Georgia, including interviews with the secretary of state and Georgia GOP chairman.

Latrice Cushenberry, 54, lives in Gwinnett County

For Latrice Cushenberry, Harris feels familiar.

“She is someone that I have seen repeatedly throughout my lifetime in my grandmother, my mother, my aunt — [a] capable, competent African American person that basically can get the job done with empathy and compassion,” she said.

So when Cushenberry saw Harris become the Democratic candidate for president, she says she saw someone ascending to a position that has always existed in her life: “Of authority, of really making certain that everyone is cared for and making certain that everyone is represented.”

The fact Harris is a woman of color also resonated for Cushenberry and made her think of what she had experienced in her own life.

“I'm a person that works in a company where I'm the only person that looks the way I look,” she said. “I think it's important for her to be the most capable, to be the most competent. And her gender and her race is just a part of her, of who she is as a person. She shouldn't lead with that, I don't think, but it is critical for people to understand … that people of color