SPECIAL EDITION: Accelerating South is here

By Howard Franklin • July 5, 2026
Word count: 360 words, 1.5 min. read

👋 Welcome to a special edition of Friendly Amendment. Today we mark the launch of Accelerating South — our first-ever regional report — featuring a foreword by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

On July 4, 2026 — America’s 250th birthday — Ohio River South published Accelerating South: Risks, Rewards, and the Road Ahead, the inaugural edition of The Next Southern Century.

The nine-state American South is now the largest economic region in the United States — bigger than the Northeast, bigger than the Pacific. If borders were drawn around it, the region would rank as a top-three economy in the world. The South is no longer the part of the country playing catch-up. It is where America’s next quarter-century gets decided.

READ THE REPORT →

Foreword by Mayor Andre Dickens

“Maynard Jackson used to call Atlanta ‘the city too busy to hate.’ I have come to see it as the city, and a region, too busy to wait.”

Read the foreword →

Three findings from the report.

The South’s political map is dividing state-by-state. Six new southern governors will take office between January 2026 and January 2027. Virginia’s Spanberger inauguration was the leading edge; November brings five more races.
The AI infrastructure fight is dividing too. Virginia, South Carolina, and Tennessee have enacted meaningful data-center regulation. Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi are positioning to absorb what the regulating states push away. “Who pays” is now a defining axis of southern state politics.
Insurance is the risk most reports underweight. Florida’s average premium hit $8,292 in 2025 — the highest in the nation. Louisiana posted the country’s largest two-year rate increase (58%). In Helene’s hardest-hit NC counties, only 1–2% of homeowners carried flood coverage.

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