Houston County — pronounced “HOW-ston; this ain’t Texas, folks — is Georgia’s 14th-most populated county. Nestled along the Ocmulgee River, it sits in the heart of the state, about 90 miles south of Atlanta and just under 20 miles south of Macon, and while parts of it look and feel like your average suburb, much of it still has a small-town feel…
Houston County is also home to Robins Air Force Base (AFB), which is the backbone of the community’s economy. As of 2023, it accounted for 24,500 military and civilian jobs. It’s also the largest single-site employer in the state. In 2024, it contributed $4.2 billion to the economy.
The city of Warner Robins grew up around the base, and for that reason, this part of Central Georgia is home to over 200,000 veterans and retirees. Local business owners depend on the city’s workers to keep them afloat.
But now that Democrats like Sens. Chuck Schumer, John Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock are holding government employees hostage, those business owners are already seeing the impact trickle down to their bottom lines.