The late Georgia Rep. John Lewis took some of his final moments to pen a message to the nation that was released by the New York Times upon his death in July. He called on young people to be the generation "who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war.”
As votes continue to be counted in Georgia, one of the state’s biggest supporter of Joe Biden was Lewis. And even though the civil rights icon is gone, the spirit of his will lives on through his constituents. An overwhelming amount of the ballots going in Biden’s favor have come from Georgia’s fifth congressional district, the same one Lewis represented for nearly four decades, according to 11Alive.
“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble,” Lewis said. “Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it,” he said.
Biden and Lewis served together in the U.S. Senate for 21 years before the former vice president took his role under President Obama in 2009.