atlanta, georgia — U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump warned of dire consequences for the country if the other wins another term in the White House as the pair held dueling rallies in Georgia on Saturday fresh off strong wins in Super Tuesday contests that positioned them for an all-but-certain rematch this November.
The state was a pivotal 2020 battleground — so close four years ago that Trump has been indicted here for asking election officials to “find 11,780 votes” and overturn Biden’s victory. Both parties are preparing for another closely contested race in the state this year.
Biden opened his speech at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, noting that Trump was across the state with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“It can tell you a lot about a person who he keeps company with,” Biden said to applause. Biden noted that Trump hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — who has rolled back democracy in his country — at his Florida club the day before.
“When he says he wants to be a dictator, I believe him,” Biden said of Trump. “Our freedoms are literally on the ballot this November.”
Biden hosted the rally at Pullman Yards, a 27-acre arts and entertainment venue in Atlanta to receive the endorsement of Collective PAC, Latino Victory Fund and AAPI Victory Fund, a trio of political groups representing, respectively, Black, Latino, and Asian Americans and Pacific Island voters. The groups were announcing a $30 million commitment to mobilize voters on Biden’s behalf.
Trump, meanwhile, is expected to hammer Biden on the border and blame him for the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, last month. An immigrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally has been arrested and charged with her murder. Trump hosted Riley’s family at his rally in Rome, Greene’s hometown.
“What Joe Biden has done on our border is a crime against humanity,” Trump was expected to say.
Ahead of his rally, Biden expressed regret for using the term “illegal” during his State of the Union address to describe Riley’s suspected killer.
Trump’s rally opened by asking attendees to rise to support the hundreds of people serving jail time for their roles in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when thousands of pro-Trump supporters tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election by halting the counting of Electoral College votes.
The intensity of the rhetoric presaged a grueling eight months of campaigning ahead in the state.
“We’re a true battleground state now,” said U.S. Representative Nikema Williams, an Atlanta Democrat who doubles as state party chairwoman.
Once a Republican stronghold, Georgia is now competitive with a path to victory for both Biden and Trump — and plenty of obstacles along the way.
“Biden’s numbers are in the tank for a lot of good reasons, and we can certainly talk about that. And so, it makes it where Trump absolutely can win the race,” Governor Brian Kemp said at a recent forum sponsored by Punchbowl News. “I also think he could lose the race. I think it’s going to be a lot tougher than people realize.”
Biden’s margin was about a quarter of a percentage point in 2020. Warnock won his 2022 Senate runoff by 3 points. Kemp was elected in 2018 by 1.5 percentage points but expanded his 2022 reelection margin to 7.5 points, a blowout in a battleground state.
In each of those elections, Democrats held wide advantages in the core of metro Atlanta — Biden’s destination on Saturday. Democrats also performed well in Columbus and Savannah and a handful of rural, majority-Black counties. But Republicans dominated in other rural areas, small towns and the smallest cities — like Rome.
At Trump’s rally, more than 3,000 people packed an event center Saturday to hear the former president speak. His campaign handed out signs featuring the image of Laken Riley.
Candace Duvall, from Hampton, Georgia, wearing a white “Trump 2024,” T-shirt, a gold purse that said “Trump” and a pair of earrings that said, “Never surrender” on one earring and Trump’s mugshot on the other, declared that her candidate is “going to save this country.”
She faulted Biden for fumbling the pronunciation of Riley’s name during his State of the Union speech Thursday.
But the same State of the Union address being criticized by Republicans has also been a source of momentum for Biden, who openly challenged Trump’s commitment to democracy, U.S. allies, the middle class and the reproductive rights of women.
Supporters saw his spirited performance as cooling worries about the 81-year-old’s age. Biden laid into the 77-year-old Trump for having the “oldest of ideas” as the former president has promised that a return to the White House would bring retribution to his opponents. U.S.
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