Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux told “Politically Georgia” that the Israel-Hamas war poses a dire threat to President Joe Biden’s reelection bid.
“Overall, this issue is really a dagger at the heart of the Democratic coalition,” Bourdeaux said.
The Democrat, who represented a Gwinnett County-based district in Congress, said her party shouldn’t underestimate the deep division over the White House’s handling of the conflict.
“It is extremely, extremely dangerous in terms of the political fortunes of the Democratic Party. And I have never really seen this kind of division and anger within the constituencies of the Democratic Party,” Bourdeaux said.
She also said she’s seen tensions rise around the conflict in her everyday life.
“I have Jewish friends who won’t shop at Palestinian restaurants anymore or go there because they think these folks are going to wipe me off the face of the planet,” said the contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And I also have very dear friends who are Muslim, who are Palestinian, and it is just devastating.”
Bordeaux’s comments come on the heels of pro-Palestinian protests at Emory University, where at least 23 people were arrested.
She added that the Biden administration needs to address growing divisions over the conflict as the November election approaches. Biden narrowly defeated then-President Donald Trump in 2020, flipping Georgia blue for the first time in nearly three decades.
With the shifting political landscape, Bourdeaux worries that these margins could be even slimmer in the 2024 race, penning an op-ed titled “I doubt Biden can win Georgia without a miracle in 2024.”
The former congresswoman is no stranger to shifting politics. In 2022, the Republican-controlled General Assembly redrew two congressional swing districts, pitting Bourdeaux against incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath. McBath went on to win that race.
Bourdeaux, also a senior visiting scholar at the University of Georgia, said she hoped the Biden administration would have invested more in suburban voters after his 2020 victory, but by 2022, she saw less of a Democratic presence where she lived.
“I am in the entire northern Gwinnett area. Previously, those doors just bristled with Democratic fliers, and there was nothing in 2022,” she said.
Fast-forward to 2024, and the Biden administration is bolstering its campaign staff in Georgia and will make several high-profile visits to the state in the coming weeks.
On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris will make her 12th trip to Georgia. She plans to deliver a speech in Atlanta focused on ways she and Biden are working to improve economic opportunities for Black men.
Next month, Biden will give the commencement speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta, another attempt to steady the Black male voting bloc.
“(Biden) needs to come to Morehouse. That’s fantastic. But then he needs to go up, you know, somewhere in Johns Creek or in Suwanee,” Bourdeaux said. “He needs to come up (I-)85.”
Monday on “Politically Georgia”: Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown joins the show to talk about Biden’s upcoming commencement speech.
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