Georgia prepares for its debate close-up

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Almost as soon as Tuesday’s Democratic debate came to an end, the head of Georgia’s state Democratic Party chimed in with a message to partisans back home.

“We’ve got next Atlanta,” state Sen. Nikema Williams wrote.

Georgia Democrats intensely lobbied national figures to land the Nov. 20 debate, in part to reinforce the idea that the state is a top 2020 battleground. And they were carefully watching what went right — and what went wrong — at Tuesday’s debate in Ohio.

Some of the specifics that sparked the most criticism will be out of their control, such as the length of the debate and the size of the field on stage. But local officials will have more say on other important issues, including the setting, the preparations and the dramatics of the event.

There’s plenty of work ahead, starting with where the November showdown will be held. State officials expect the event, hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post, to be located in metro Atlanta, but that only whittles down the list of potential sites.

The location of the venue will hold symbolic resonance. The debate in Houston was held at a historically black college in one of the city’s strongest Democratic bastions. The 12-candidate mashup on Tuesday was at a small college in the northeast outskirts of Columbus, a oncereliably GOP area that’s now more competitive.

The pick for Georgia’s event will send a message, too, if the party selects a suburban site to reflect its expanding ambitions or a spot in the city’s center to pay homage to the historic Democratic base. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has already made her pitch.

“There is no denying that Georgia is poised as a swing state and will play an important role in the upcoming election,” she wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to party officials. “With people of color being the cornerstone of the Democratic Party, Atlanta remains set to provide a large portion of votes for our eventual nominee.”

This would be the first time the city has been the home to a national political debate since 1992.