The growing campus demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war have laid bare Democratic divisions in Georgia at a fraught political moment as President Joe Biden and his allies race to recapture the battleground state in November.
State Republicans have also harnessed the turmoil to push a law-and-order message, seizing on images of on-campus clashes to brand pro-Palestinian protesters as “radical” disruptors even though most of the demonstrations in Georgia have been peaceful.
Senior Democrats acknowledged the backlash could pose a significant threat to Biden’s chances of recapturing Georgia. Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, a one-term Democrat, likened it to a “dagger at the heart of the Democratic coalition.”
“It is extremely, extremely dangerous in terms of the political fortunes of the Democratic Party,” she told the “Politically Georgia” show. “And I have never really seen this kind of division and anger within the constituencies of the Democratic Party.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have tried to present a united pro-Israel front, condemning the protests with much the same language they used to assail activists who have sought to block the public safety training center in Atlanta.
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