Michelle Nunn, Jason Carter hope to rechart the course of Georgia politics. – The Washington Post

The two major parties here don’t agree on many things. One of them is that it is only a matter of time before Georgia goes from being a Republican stronghold to a state that is up for grabs.

In next year’s elections, Democrats will be looking to speed that process along with a couple of candidates who bring fresh faces and familiar names.

They are Senate contender Michelle Nunn, an executive who is also the daughter of former senator Sam Nunn, and gubernatorial hopeful Jason Carter, a third-term state senator who is a grandson of former president Jimmy Carter.

Nunn and Carter face tough odds, given that Georgia has not elected a non-incumbent Democrat to any statewide office since the waning years of the last century. But recent demographic shifts suggest a new electoral equation could be forming — and probably more quickly than in much-talked-about Texas.

The face of the state is being changed by an influx of African Americans and Latinos. Although whites accounted for 71 percent of Georgians who voted in the 2004 elections, that share had dropped by nearly 10 percentage points in 2012.

Last year, President Obama’s reelection campaign pretty much ignored Georgia, but he still got more than 45 percent of the vote. Of the states that Obama lost to Republican Mitt Romney, Georgia had the second-narrowest margin, behind battleground North Carolina.

Democrats say all they need now is more money, better organization and the right names on the ballot — the last of which they believe they have found in Nunn and Carter, who present themselves as affable consensus-builders willing to reach across party lines.

“Everybody said it could happen by 2018, but because of these two candidates and the excitement they bring, we’re going to do it in 2014,” said DuBose Porter, who took over in August as chairman of the troubled and underfunded Georgia Democratic Party.

Republicans see the same tectonic shifts at work, though they say the timeline is longer.

“In five or six or seven years, this will be a swing state, a real battleground. It will probably be the next Virginia or North Carolina,” GOP strategist Paul Bennecke said. “Our party, for longevity purposes, has to figure out a way to reach out.”

At a minimum, the prospect of Nunn and Carter on the ticket — both are expected to win nomination easily — has given Georgia Democrats a jolt of energy, enthusiasm and fundraising potential they have lacked in recent years. The state party raised $150,000 at a Nov. 20 luncheon in downtown Atlanta, at which Nunn and Carter were featured speakers.

Nunn collected an attention-getting $1.7 million in the first 10 weeks after announcing her candidacy in July. The money came from more than 6,700 individual donors, including some prominent contributors who normally give to Republicans.

Last month, former senator John W. Warner (R-Va.) attended a fundraiser for Nunn; his political action committee contributed $500 to her campaign.