US President Joe Biden addresses Morehouse College graduates during a commencement ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia on May 19, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Atlanta: The official purpose of Joe Biden’s trip to Georgia in the final days of 2020 was to rally support for two Democratic Senate candidates facing tight runoffs. But the visit looked an awful lot like a victory lap.
“I have to say, it feels pretty good,” Biden told a crowd in Atlanta, reveling in the distinction of being the first Democrat to win Georgia in a presidential election in nearly 30 years. The moment — along with the Democrats’ win of both Senate seats a few weeks later, tipping control of the chamber — seemed to affirm the party’s resurgence in a state long dominated by Republicans.
This weekend, as Biden returns to Atlanta with ambitions of winning the state again in a rematch with former President Donald Trump, he faces a much different climate.
The optimism that soared among Georgia Democrats after his win has been overtaken by frustration and worry, not just about his campaign prospects but about the direction of the country.
At Morehouse College, the prestigious Black institution where Biden delivered the commencement address on Sunday, some students had urged school officials to rescind the invitation, and some faculty members had planned to skip the event — a signal of discontent over the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Beyond that, recent polls have shown Trump with a lead in Georgia, as support for Biden has softened among groups who had been instrumental to his success in 2020, including Black voters, other people of color and younger people.
“It’s definitely a void,” said Erick Allen, a Democrat running for a seat on the Board of Commissioners in Cobb County, just outside of Atlanta, referring to a “deficit of energy and funds in Georgia.”
Without other critical statewide races on the ballot, or the turbulence of the early pandemic or the racial justice protests that energized parts of the electorate in 2020, Allen said he worries about the level of interest and investment in Georgia.
“We don’t have a George Floyd, thank God,” Allen said. “We don’t have a Covid, thank God. Last election was in a crisis. We were dying in the streets and we were dying in the hospital beds. We’re not going to have that energy.”