President Joe Biden and major donors to the Democratic Party do not consider Georgia to be a “top tier” priority for the 2024 elections, according to multiple progressive and Democratic activists quoted in a New York Times report published Friday.
Cliff Albright, executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund, told the publication his impression from “Democratic donors and party leaders” is that Georgia is “not, like, first tier,” adding that “some early indications are that it’s not going to get top-level prioritization.” The left wing group he co-founded spent more than $1 million to oppose former Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in 2020, and nearly $400,000 to elect Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
Albright’s Black Voters Matter Fund received the majority of its funding from Democracy PAC, which received the majority of its funding from Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.
Democratic donor and Democracy in Color founder Steve Phillips, who was an early backer of Stacey Abrams and remains a supporter on social media, underscored Albright’s sentiments.
“For some inexplicable reason, a lot of people are leaving Georgia out of the top tier of states to focus on next year,” Phillips told The Times. He added that “top donors” and “different advisors to billionaires” are telling him they “have a top tier list of five states and Georgia is not in it.”
The Times report comes as Biden continues to poll behind former President Donald Trump in Georgia and most battleground states. A recent Morning Consult poll showed Trump ahead with 43 percent of the vote, with Biden nine percentage points behind at 34 percent. Independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy and Cornel West received 11 percent and 1 percent of the vote, respectively.
Another recent survey pitting Trump against Biden in a head-to-head showed the former president leading with 45.4 percent of the vote, and Biden at 43.5 percent.
Vice President Kamala Harris was tapped to kick off fundraising for the Biden campaign in Georgia in May. She headlined Georgia Democrats’ “Spring Soiree” fundraiser, where Reuters reported she was expected to rub shoulders with some of the Georgia donors who contributed more than $1 billion to their 2020 campaign.
Harris reportedly spoke for just 20 minutes and highlighted the “over $4 billion” the administration directed to Georgia, including funding to build “new sidewalks and bike lanes on Central Avenue and Pryor Street” in Atlanta. She pledged the White House “will fight for our democracy,” and told donors, “when we fight, we win.”
Harris’ brief appearance in May could underscore remarks Democratic political strategist Jonae Wartel made to The Times. Wartel, who led Democrats’ efforts to elect Warnock and Ossoff, acknowledged “resourcing” is not “where it needs to be” but told the outlet Democrats should focus on “engaging and appealing to the donor community to really make early investments.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis recently confirmed her racketeering trial against Trump, and those who helped him contest the 2020 election will likely be live on Election Day in 2024. It could continue until the inauguration in 2025.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Joe Biden” by President Joe Biden.
