Here is part of the questions that we discussed with NBC News Correspondent Ellison Barber:

Why was Chattooga County chosen to be featured? 

Chattooga County, in many ways, represents the core of today’s Republican Party. Voters here are former President Donald Trump’s base: conservative and deeply evangelical. He won this county with 80% of the vote in 2020. In 2016, with 78%. The population declined here, but voter turnout went up — that’s a rare thing.

When we talk about voter turnout, we’re really talking about voter enthusiasm. A key question we’re trying to tackle over the next year is whether or not that level of enthusiasm is just for Trump or if it is transferable to other Republican candidates?Will voters here turn out for Republicans in the midterms at or near the same level as we saw in 2020? If Republicans can’t turnout their base, in a newly purple state, their path to taking back the Senate seat lost here gets a lot harder… and it also give us a bit of insight into 2024.

There are many counties across the country that look and vote like Chattooga County. That’s true for all of the counties in this project. We want to meet people where they are, to talk and listen. When we look back in a year (at all of the County to County reporting, from all 5 of our teams) my hope is that we’ll understand the electorate better and that viewers will too.

Give us some background on NBC News’ County-by-County coverage:

The ‘County to County’ project is something NBC originally launched last election cycle. What’s different this year, is that we added seven new counties. We have five correspondents (I’m one of them!) covering and embedding in these counties to report on hyper-local issues facing key electorates across the country as the 2022 midterms begin to take shape. 

The goal is to understand — from the ground up — the issues, political fault lines, and national headlines driving local conversations.

Here’s where reporters are: 

• • Chattooga County, Ga.
  • Luzerne County, Pa.
  •  Delaware County, Ohio
  • Duval County, Fla.
  •  Dane County, Wis
  • Anson County, N.C.
  • Washoe County, Nev.

We’ll all interview voters throughout the next year in these seven demographically significant counties, track the local economies, media landscapes and evolving opinions and sentiments as the 2022 midterm races begin to take shape and unfold next November.

Tell us some background on you as the reporter.

I joined NBC in April of 2020 (more on that here: https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/ellison-barber-nbc-news-fox-news-channel-1234573345/)

I was part of the County to County team reporting on Miami-Dade County, Florida last year, but I’ve spent most of the last year and a half reporting on the pandemic — from Mississippi to Alaska. A few other big stories I’ve recently covered: Hurricane Ida in New Orleans and the Surfside Building Collapse in Miami.

I’m a Georgia kid! I grew up in the Atlanta suburbs (we moved from NC when I was about 3). I graduated from South Forsyth High School in 2008. My parents live in Northeast Georgia now. I have family in Atlanta and Ellijay. Georgia is home; I’m thrilled to be back here and have the chance to report in a state that I love. 

PS GO BRAVES