On a Sunday morning in September outside a coffee shop in Alpharetta, a dozen volunteers are gathered, most of them women, filling out name tags and sipping on lattes. They are preparing to knock on doors for Debra Shigley , a Democrat battling Republican Jason Dickerson in a runoff race for a Georgia State Senate seat. (Shigley ultimately lost the race to Dickerson, 61 percent to 39 percent.)

Among the volunteers is Barbara Peters, a recently retired Dahlonega resident and first-time canvasser. Peters admits she would much rather be having brunch with friends or relaxing at home on the weekend, but she’d made the 40-mile drive to support Shigley because of her terror at the current state of the nation.

“I’ve never been highly political, but I’m becoming political because I feel like

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