RUTLEDGE, Georgia --- Going into 2022, many voters in rural Walton and Morgan counties expected zoning and spending issues to dominate local government races.
Then came the December announcement of Rivian’s $5 billion electric vehicle plant that has shaken the political landscape around the farms and pine forests an hour east of Atlanta that dot the area around the future factory.
Rivian has its fans, and Gov. Brian Kemp and state leaders of both parties have hailed the project and its 7,500 promised jobs as transformational for Georgia.
