As Republicans in Milwaukee are set to launch the four-day convention to renominate former President Donald Trump after an assassination attempt, Democrats in Georgia are quietly confronting uncomfortable questions.
Is the state out of reach for President Joe Biden just four years after he won it? And will the weekend violence only further unite Republicans as Democrats remain splintered over the best path forward?
While few prominent Georgians have joined the calls for Biden to step aside, the bigger worry was whether the Black voters and swing suburbanites who formed the core of his 2020 coalition will stay home in November after his disastrous debate performance last month.
Those voters helped elect Biden in Georgia in 2020, as well as give U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock a full six-year term in 2022, even as Republicans swept every other statewide office in the midterm elections.
To activate the critical voting blocs, some Biden backers were calling for a grittier approach.
Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, a Biden supporter who presides over Georgia’s more than 500 African Methodist Episcopal churches, told “Politically Georgia” on Friday, “The Democrats are the worst messengers in the world. I think they need to go back to elementary school with messaging.”
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
But after Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump and a Biden address to the nation Sunday night calling for all Americans to lower the temperature in politics, Democrats are now wondering where that leaves the president and his message four months out from Election Day.
The storm clouds are darkening for Democrats’ chances as the electoral map tightens in Sun Belt states like Arizona and Nevada, where Biden will rally this week. Some party leaders are openly wondering whether even blue-state bastions like New York and New Hampshire could now be in play.
Confident Republicans told us last week that Trump’s campaign has outlined a strategy to grassroots activists focused on turning out low-propensity GOP voters rather than pressing to broaden the party’s tent.
But traditional campaign tactics and strategies from either party seemed beside the point after Saturday’s violence.
“It will guarantee that every Trump supporter now will be a Trump voter in November. Trump’s voters are energized, Biden’s voters are demoralized,” pollster Frank Luntz said. He added: “The 2024 presidential election is now Trump’s to lose.”
***
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
RNC PREVIEW? The Republican National Convention kicks off amid heavy security days after a would-be assassin opened fire at former President Donald Trump, bringing urgent calls for unity during a tumultuous White House campaign.
We’ll be watching to see if U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sticks to that messaging when she delivers her speech sometime this evening. Greene, R-Rome, is known for her fiery far-right rhetoric. That always plays well with her base, but more eyes will be on her with the RNC as her stage and calls for civility on top of many minds.
President Joe Biden delivered a primetime address Sunday from the Oval Office pleading with Americans to “cool it down” during the last months of the race, while Trump called for unity as he arrived in Milwaukee for the four-day gala.
Trump’s aides say he’s expected to appear at the convention Monday as he prepares to announce his running mate this week. His speech formally accepting the GOP nomination for the third consecutive time is slated for Thursday.
***
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
LOWERING THE TEMP. Faith leaders from across Metro Atlanta took the lead Sunday in encouraging parishioners to reflect on the highly partisan nature of U.S. politics and how it may have been a catalyst for the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump.
Among them was U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who condemned the shooting in the immediate aftermath through his Senate office and weighed in more passionately via his role as head pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Warnock said he was “disheartened” and “deeply saddened” by what happened at Saturday’s rally and went on to deliver a 10-minute speech condemning political violence of all stripes.
Credit: Jon Cherry/The New York Times
Credit: Jon Cherry/The New York Times
“We pray for the American family beset by a moral crisis and spiritual sickness so much deeper than partisan politics,” the Atlanta Democrat said. “The puny language of red states and blue states will not save us now. This is not about red and blue, this is not about right and left, this is about right and wrong.”
Warnock also encouraged those listening to ensure their reaction to political violence is consistent, saying the person who targeted Trump is no patriot, just as the people who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 are not.
“They are cut from the same cloth,” Warnock said. “We must cry foul, we must call out the hypocrisy of anyone who would try to condone one and not condemn the other.”
***
ON HOLD. President Joe Biden’s allies had been planning to use the Republican National Convention as a chance to sharpen the contrast between Biden and former President Donald Trump, buoyed by post-debate polls that did not show a dramatic shift following the Atlanta debate.
Declaring the race “in the margin of error in all battleground states,” the Biden campaign had planned to dispatch Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff and actor BD Wong to Gwinnett County to rev up Asian-American voters.
But a Biden campaign official tells the AJC the trip is off for now. “In light of the horrific shooting in Pennsylvania, the second gentleman’s planned campaign trip to Georgia has been postponed.”
Biden is scheduled to resume campaigning on Tuesday.
****
Credit: Arvin Temkar
Credit: Arvin Temkar
LISTEN UP. The Politically Georgia team is in Milwaukee all week for the RNC.
On today’s show, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler joins the program to talk about the Republican convention, as well as the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life over the weekend. Later, University of Georgia Professor Charles Bullock discusses the violent state of our politics today.
Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 or follow “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
On Friday’s episode, state Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, talked about his law school roommate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican and a leading candidate to serve as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
Also, Bishop Reginald Jackson, the leader of one of Georgia’s largest Black church denominations, discussed heading a coalition of religious leaders in backing President Joe Biden.
***
Credit: Jenn Ackerman/The New York Times
Credit: Jenn Ackerman/The New York Times
NO GLOATING. Amid ongoing Democratic angst over President Joe Biden’s age and mental acuity, our pal Jamie Dupree recently caught up with U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips. The Minnesota lawmaker ran against Biden in the Democratic primaries, campaigning on his belief the 81-year-old should pass the torch to a new generation.
Said Phillips: “Vindication has never been so unfulfilling.”
Read more in Dupree’s latest Washington Insider column.
***
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris receive more security briefings on the Trump assassination attempt. Biden also tapes an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.
- The House and Senate are in recess all week as Republicans convene in Milwaukee.
***
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
UGLY TRACK RECORD. As the Georgia Environmental Protection Division considers whether to issue permits to an Alabama-based company to mine for titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp, an AJC investigation has uncovered a pattern of operational failures and environmental violations by the would-be mining firm and its sister companies.
Companies operated by Greenfuels, including Twins Pines mining, have accumulated more than $1 million in settlements and fines and committed more than 70 violations since 2016. Reporters Dylan Jackson and Drew Kann reviewed hundreds of pages of government records and court documents as part of the investigation.
Twin Pines has proposed a nearly 600-acre titanium mine along a ridge near the edge of the swamp. Titanium is used largely as a whitening agent for consumer products such as toothpaste. The project has prompted concerns about contamination or changes in the water table that could affect the national wildlife refuge.
In February, the Georgia EPD released draft permits for the company’s proposal for a nearly 600-acre mine, one of the last steps in Twin Pines’ five-year effort to seek approval.
***
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
KEMP ON THE CAUSEWAY. Gov. Brian Kemp spent Saturday in Georgia’s Golden Isles, helping Brunswick and Glynn County officials mark the 100-year anniversary of the opening of the F.J. Torras Causeway, which links Brunswick to St. Simons Island.
Kemp labeled the causeway a truly special feat of engineering even as he jokingly panned its designer and builder, Torras, a Georgia Tech graduate. Kemp is a University of Georgia grad. The link has made St. Simons and Sea Island popular tourism destinations known for golf and beaches for decades.
***
AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
