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Rep. John Barrow speaks at First African Baptist Church in Dublin, Ga. Barrow needs African-Americans to turn out on Election Day, but they're not enough to put him over the top. Sarah McCammon/NPR hide caption

Rep. John Barrow speaks at First African Baptist Church in Dublin, Ga. Barrow needs African-Americans to turn out on Election Day, but they're not enough to put him over the top.

For Republicans, Democrats in red states seem ripe for the picking in midterm election years, when the GOP usually has an advantage in voter turnout. One of their targets this year is Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, who faces one of the tightest races in the nation.

Barrow, often described as the "last white Democrat in Congress from the Deep South," is trying to hold onto his seat.

At First African Baptist Church in Dublin, Ga., a bronze plaque beside the front door reminds visitors that this is where a 14-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. gave his first public speech.

Pastor Keith Anderson stands behind the pulpit and welcomes Barrow to the service, while making a dig at Washington gridlock.

"I'm glad, Congressman Barrow, that I don't have to sit in the Senate or in the Congress and the only way my business gets done is if I get the majority to support [it]," Anderson says.

Even if Congress seems ineffective, Anderson assures his congregation, there is power in prayer to get things done.

Barrow tells the audience of about 60 people that even in Washington, he gets things done; he ticks off efforts to bring jobs to Georgia by promoting nuclear energy and expanding the Port of Savannah.

Barrow is comfortable here, among traditionally Democratic African-American voters. He describes himself as a Democrat in the tradition of his father, a judge known for helping to keep public schools open after desegregation. Barrow needs African-Americans to turn out on Election Day they make up more than a third of his district. But they're not enough to put him over the top.

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Courting Republicans, Georgia Democrat Tries To Keep His Seat