Biden’s state-certified victory in Georgia in the 2020 election was by a mere 12,000 votes, and of course, it was plagued by allegations of election shenanigans. Despite the razor-thin margin and disputed nature of the result, Democrats were emboldened by the outcome and have hoped to make Georgia a genuine battleground state in future elections.
As of right now, those efforts don’t appear to be producing results, and arguably, there isn’t much effort at all from Team Biden to make a genuine play for the state in next year’s election.
A month ago, we reported that the Biden campaign appeared to be giving up on Georgia. Grassroots organizers in the state were lamenting that interest in campaigning in the state had waned, and the money coming in from donors was drying up. Of course, publicly, the Biden campaign maintains it is making a play for the Peach State, but it has no existing infrastructure there, which suggests that Georgia isn't actually being considered a true battleground state in next year's election.
But some Democratic strategists are still holding out hope.
"Georgia is a highly competitive state, and I think that really speaks to just how much progress Democrats have made there over the period of a few cycles,” an anonymous Democratic strategist with a lot of experience in the state told Fox News Digital. "You'd be hard-pressed, I think, to find someone on any side of the political aisle at this point who disagrees with that."
"I think that says a lot about the ability of Georgia Democrats and the president's campaign to get out and win this thing. The fact that you now have two Democratic senators in the state, one of whom was just reelected in the last cycle, says a lot about how there is a strong path to victory,” the strategist said.
This is certainly a fair point, though many would argue that Sen. Warnock’s victory in 2022 had more to do with the weakness of his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker, and Warnock’s previous victory in 2021. They might also say that Sen. Ossoff’s win was a side effect of Trump’s allies telling Georgians not to vote in the election. It's likewise noteworthy that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp easily defeated Stacey Abrams last year as well.
But what really calls this strategist’s assessment into question is that he or she believes that voters are perceiving "a more optimistic economic reality,” and that the Biden administration's investment in infrastructure projects in Georgia will make it difficult for Trump to take the state back in 2024.
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"We're talking about the kind of swing voters that make up a lot of the suburban areas. Trying to convince them to return to Donald Trump, particularly in a situation in which the state's sitting governor has already expressed his own reservations about the president, is going to be a challenge for them,” the analyst said. "And this kind of anti-democratic, anti-choice agenda that Republicans really haven't leaned away from in any way, I think just complements the president's strengths. They're not necessarily ready to take this kind of new radical agenda you see a lot of the 2024 Republican candidates pushing."
Cute story, but one that reeks of denial. For starters, poll after poll shows that Democrats and Republicans alike aren’t feeling a good economy right now, and they also blame Joe Biden for that. If anything this strategist said reflected reality, Trump wouldn’t be leading in the polls in Georgia right now. But, alas, he is.
Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) told Fox News Digital that Biden will actually be a drag on Democrats and help Republicans in 2024.
"Georgians want an end to the non-stop crises coming out of Washington, from high prices, reckless spending and harebrained climate activism, to a partisan justice system, indoctrination in the classroom, and a declining commitment to our military,” she said. She also argued that the political prosecution of Trump in Fulton County while real criminals aren’t being prosecuted is hurting the Democrats in the state.
Frankly, there's very little reason to believe that the Biden campaign sees real opportunity in Georgia this cycle, and they'll likely devote resources elsewhere unless dynamics change significantly.
