The eve of the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump featured a blitz of activities across metro Atlanta as each campaign tried to undercut their rival’s base of support.
A pair of prominent Republicans who endorsed Biden stood at the steps of the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday to urge fellow conservatives to reject Trump. A few miles away, Trump allies urged Black voters to leave Democrats behind and vote in the GOP column.
The dueling events were a microcosm of a broader campaign that landed squarely in Georgia as both candidates prepare to tangle Thursday in CNN’s presidential debate.
There were fresh broadsides over Trump’s criminal conviction and attacks on Biden’s domestic agenda. Some of Georgia’s most senior politicians got in the mix.
It was all a prelude to Thursday’s showdown in Atlanta, the first and potentially only time Biden and Trump share the same stage this election cycle. The CNN debate kicks off at 9 p.m. and tens of millions of voters are expected to watch.
Democrats seized the opportunity Wednesday to bring up Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in the New York hush money case, launching five billboards in both English and Spanish at high-traffic areas featuring the former president’s mug shot.
“The man Georgia voters rejected in 2020 has only gotten more unhinged and vengeful in the past four years,” Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jackie Bush said.
On the airwaves, the Biden campaign continues its $50 million paid media blitz in June with a new ad in Georgia and other battleground states. The spot ran Wednesday and invoked the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a wealthy executive and key Trump ally, provided Trump with air cover of her own. Her Greater Georgia group launched a 30-second digital ad welcoming Trump to Atlanta — and blasting Biden’s policies.
High stakes
But the key hallmark political events of the day were simultaneous campaign gatherings that aimed to put their rivals on the defensive.
At the Georgia Capitol, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger stood side-by-sidebacking Biden — and urging other Republicans to swallow their misgivings and back the Democrat as well.
“If you would have told me three years ago that you would be endorsing a Democrat for president in three years, I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” said Kinzinger, who had given Biden his blessing hours earlier. “But the stakes of the moment are too high.”
Duncan has had a little more time in Biden’s orbit. He endorsed the Democrat a few weeks ago, after briefly entertaining a third-party presidential bid.
“Going against the grain as a Republican and supporting Democrat Joe Biden is not easy. But I’m not looking at this election through the lens of being a Republican,” said Duncan, who was elected to Georgia’s No. 2 job in 2018 and didn’t seek a second term.
“I’m looking through the lens of being an American who cares more about the future of my country than the morally bankrupt nominee of my party.”
Even as they spoke, a small crowd gathered at Rocky’s Barbershop in Buckhead, where two Black Republican legislators and a handful of Black business owners and activists rallied support behind Trump.
A few minutes into the event, Trump dialed in to boast of support from Black voters going “through the roof” since he was charged with election-interference in Fulton County’s racketeering case. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released this week showed Trump with 9% support among likely Black voters, on par with other GOP candidates.
Among the speakers was U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican who was vetted by Trump’s staff as a potential running mate. He said the GOP should more sharply tailor its message to Black voters.
“For our people, there’s a fundamental question we got to ask, ‘How’s your life going to be with four more years of Joe Biden?’” he said. “Because what I’m hearing a lot of these young kids saying is, ‘Where’s Trump? Can we get him back?’”
