The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump, Biden here to woo voters
Dueling campaign events tonight highlight Georgia’s importance to a victory in November.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump each have such a narrow path to the White House that there are few competitive states on the 2024 map. Today will serve as another reminder that Georgia is one of them.
The two rivals will hold near-simultaneous events in different parts of the state this evening that will offer voters a split-screen contrast of the November race.
Trump’s event will be staged at a Rome convention hall in the heart of the northwest Georgia district held by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the loyalist who wore Trump’s bright-red MAGA garb at the State of the Union.
And Biden is headed to the massive Pullman Yards in the territory of one of his fiercest supporters, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, who chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia and helped engineer the president’s 2020 upset victory in the once solidly Republican state.
It’s little surprise that both candidates are playing to their bases during their first visits to Georgia during the general election phase.
They are two of the most recognizable politicians on the planet, and the election is expected to hinge on mobilization of their most likely supporters, rather than persuading the small sliver of undecided voters.
Still, polls show most Georgia voters dread the idea of a rematch and could be tempted to back a third-party alternative. Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is considering a White House bid on the centrist No Labels ticket.
Eager to keep Georgia in their column, Democrats fret about divisions within their party over Biden’s pro-Israel foreign policy that threaten the tenuous coalition.
“I worry about everything,”
Democratic state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, an ardent Biden supporter, told the “Politically Georgia” podcast. She added: “But we’re ready for this battle in Georgia, and Saturday will highlight how important it is.”
Even the smallest discord in party ranks could have a major impact on the race in Georgia, where fewer than 12,000 votes divided Trump and Biden in 2020.
And some Biden critics plan to vote a blank ballot during Tuesday’s primary as a silent protest, a cause for concern among Democrats who hope the president’s campaign sharpens its message.
“There is no mystery about the candidates. We have to show what’s happened under President Biden and stop letting Republicans control the narrative,” Democratic state Rep. Al Williams said.
He said one of the defining questions of the race should be: “Do we preserve our democracy or do we head in the direction of fascism?”
‘Red state?’
Republicans have their own problems, starting with the question of where the sizable bloc of Nikki Haley supporters will go now that the former South Carolina governor has ended her campaign for president.
That group could include some of the same split-ticket voters that helped Biden eke out his Georgia victory in 2020 and, two years later, voted for second terms for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Republicans, though, are already showing signs of uniting behind the party’s standard-bearer.
Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr and Insurance Commissioner John King each defeated Trump-backed primary challengers in 2022. Nevertheless, each said this week that he will support Trump’s reelection bid.
“America cannot afford four more years of Joe Biden,” Carr strategist Heath Garrett said. “As a lifelong Republican, the attorney general will support the Republican ticket.”
That’s encouraging to Trump’s longtime MAGA adherents, who expect increasing concerns about illegal immigration — spurred by the killing of nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus — to bolster the base.
“The devastating effects of Joe Biden’s policies on our country have resulted in Republicans uniting and setting aside their differences,” said Marci McCarthy, who chairs the DeKalb County GOP.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde represents a conservative bastion in northeast Georgia, one of the biggest troves of Republican votes in the South. With the general campaign underway, he said Trump’s base is getting warmed up.
“We’re in a red state. This isn’t a blue state,” Clyde said in an interview. “We’re freedom-loving. We’re conservative. And I’m confident that President Trump is going to take this state.”