When Michelle Nunn spoke to supporters from the living room of an Inman Park home on Nov. 3, she did not hide her reason for being there.

“One of the preachers in our Perry Methodist Church said, ‘The Lord loves a cheerful giver but will also take money from a grouch,’” Nunn said, drawing laughter from her audience. Having each contributed $250 to attend the fundraiser, the supporters in attendance were definitely not grouches.

This past July, Nunn launched her campaign for the 2014 U.S. Senate election and has since drawn national attention from across the political spectrum. Her campaign has attracted endorsements from Democrats both from Georgia and from across the country.

Nunn has a strong base of support in Inman Park and in surrounding neighborhoods. Grady teacher Jeff Cramer and his wife, Ann, are among Nunn’s strongest backers. The Cramers hosted Nunn’s Nov. 3 fundraiser with another family. The two couples have also held fundraisers for U.S. Rep. John Lewis and Mayor Kasim Reed.

Some of the attention Nunn immediately drew comes from her name recognition: her father, Sam Nunn, served 24 consecutive years in the U.S. Senate, representing Georgia. In a conversation with The Southerner, Michelle Nunn discussed the role her father plays in her career.

“We’re influenced by the examples of our parents, and I certainly saw my dad as someone who was able to make a great difference in the Senate, and [I] saw how he he changed lives, and helped shape what I think was a positive direction for our country,” Nunn said. “So it’s certainly something that has had a tremendous influence on me and my choices, and certainly my choice to run is in part inspired by his legacy of service.”

The strength of Nunn’s campaign will be linked with her ability to fundraise. Though Nunn raised $1.7 million in the first three months of her campaign—more than any other potential candidate in the race—she hopes to garner more than just money.

As the CEO of Points of Light, a volunteer service organization, Nunn has worked for over two decades organizing and mobilizing volunteers. She must now undertake similar tasks for her campaign.

“There are about 800,000 metro-Atlanta voters that vote in a presidential year that don’t vote in a non-presidential year,” Nunn said to the crowd of about 75 in Inman Park. “If we can get 150,000 of those voters to come out and vote, we can win this election.”

In 2008, Barack Obama encouraged young people to support his campaign. To Nunn, youth volunteerism has extreme potential as well.

“In community service I have seen this enormous reservoir of great youth involvement,” Nunn said. “I think in the last 25 years, we see double the rates of participation in young people in terms of volunteer service. I think we’re seeing that [this] generation has really embraced community service.”

As a political outsider, having never held elected office, Nunn voiced dissatisfaction with the current state of government. To some extent, she said the gridlock in Congress has helped her case. For example, Public Policy Polling reported in August that Nunn was either tied with or ahead of every opponent in matchups with potential Republican candidates.

“When we say that each one of [my opponents] voted to shut down government, we actually move up six points,” Nunn said.

Nunn launched her 10-city “What Washington can learn from Georgia” tour of the state in August. Nunn said she met people on her tour who were tired of inaction in government. Her mantra of pragmatism, collaboration and problem solving echoed throughout descriptions of her past and hopes for her political future.

The responses to Nunn’s candidacy have been highly disparate. WABE published a letter on July 24, 2013 that the Georgia Republican Party issued as a “welcome” to Nunn following her announcement. The letter criticized Nunn’s “far left-wing beliefs,” and labeled her as “out-of-touch.”

Aaron Watson, a former member of the Atlanta City Council, attended the Nov. 3 fundraiser to support Nunn.

“I just think she’s a really talented young lady,” Watson said. “I’ve known her primarily through her Hands On Atlanta experience, so she’s got a great sensitivity to important issues that I think we really need some attention to on the federal level.”

Watson said Nunn’s familiarity with Georgia will help her appeal to all Georgians.

“She’s been all over the state, but I think she’s also got to get out and re-familiarize herself with different parts of the state that she hasn’t visited lately, and she’s doing that,” Watson said.

Nunn seemed ready to include the entire state in her campaign for the Senate.

“I have a couple home communities in Georgia, and one is middle Georgia, where my family is from,” Nunn said. “I really hope to run a campaign that embraces the whole state … It will be critical to get Georgians from small and large communities across the state to be participants, and to be invited into the campaign, and I’m very excited about that.”

Supporters were hopeful but realistic. Along with Grady teacher Jeff Cramer and his wife Ann, Neil Schemm hosted the Nov. 3 fundraiser with his wife, Sharon Gay, at their home in Inman Park. Schemm, who has lived in Georgia since the late 1970s, said Nunn must overcome hurdles.

“Georgia was, up until 2000 … for a southern state, a reasonably progressive state,” Schemm said. “But now I have to say, outside of [Interstate Highway] 285, it is very, very, very conservative and that we have taken our place with the rest of the states in the old confederacy.”

While 2014 will be Nunn’s official foray into politics, she considered a U.S. Senate run in 2004. She ultimately stayed out of the race to focus on her family, which includes her husband, Ron Martin, Jr., and their children, Vinson, 10, and Elizabeth, 8. As Nunn gears up for the 2014 race, her family has been beneficial.

“I have loved having the opportunity to involve [my children] in the campaign,” Nunn said. “Every time we meet someone new they say, ‘Mom, remember to ask them to vote for you!’ So they must be catching the bug a little bit.”

For a strong showing in 2014, Nunn will focus on mobilizing more than just her children. For now, it’s all hands on deck.