Georgia helped elect Joe Biden president in 2020, and it’s a top priority of his reelection campaign, a point made clearly by the many times he and Vice President Kamala Harris have traveled to the state.
“We’re spending a lot of time in Georgia because it’s important,” said Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager for Biden’s reelection bid. “The president has said Georgia is the reason why he was able to be elected.”
Fulks sat down for an interview with “Politically Georgia” host Tia Mitchell that aired Friday.
His comments come as Bloomberg released its latest polling showing Biden lagging behind former President Donald Trump in Georgia and other swing states. Back in 2020, Biden edged Trump by nearly 12,000 votes in the Peach State.
“I’m a political operative. I work in politics,” Fulks said. “I don’t put stock in polls that are noisy and inconsistent, especially on the national level.”
But Fulks also said “there’s no question it’s going to be a close race and it’s going to take everything for us to defeat Donald Trump, and that’s what we’re working on.”
Fulks is no stranger to the Georgia electorate; he grew up in the state and attended Georgia Southwestern State University. He also worked on Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign. He said there are similar opportunities to attract Republican voters for Biden in the 2024 race.
“We won 9% of Republican voters for Sen. Warnock ” Fulks said. “I think Donald Trump allows us to do that out of the gate as we see a number of Republicans sort of defecting from Donald Trump (and) voting for Nikki Haley even after she has been out of the primary.”
Fulks also noted former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s support for Biden’s reelection.
“I think that that’s a microcosm that is occurring all across these sort of battleground states,” Fulks said.
He also talked to Mitchell about all the attention Biden received ahead of delivering a commencement speech last weekend at Morehouse College.
“The president’s ready to talk and willing to talk to any American,” the Ellaville native said. “Morehouse presented an opportunity for him to do that specifically to a group of young Black men on one of the most important days of their life. And so I was happy to be a part, to be the witness.”
At the graduation, the valedictorian called for a cease-fire in Gaza. Navigating the Israel-Hamas war in the region has been a huge issue for the Biden campaign and sparked protests across the country on college campuses.
“I think when it comes to the protests, I think it’s really important that there’s not much daylight between what the protesters and people who are protesting are calling for and what the president’s vision is on this issue, and that’s why he’s working around the clock,” Fulks said.
Ultimately, Fulks said the Biden campaign is working full force to engage voters in Georgia. Last month, the campaign hired nine additional staffers in Georgia.
“They’re really excited to make sure that we’re going to be on the ground in people’s community talking about the issues that they care about,” Fulks said.
“And that’s not just in Atlanta. That’s in Macon. That’s in Savannah. That’s in Augusta. That’s in Columbus. That’s in Valdosta. That’s in Clarke. That’s in Athens,” he said. “This state is very, very important.”
Monday on “Politically Georgia”: Bill Nigut interviews Atlanta Journal-Constitution cartoonist Mike Luckovich about his long career.
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