As we enter the final two weeks of the campaign, both parties are bringing out big names to energize voters ahead of election day.
With early voting now underway, several high-profile celebrities and politicians are hitting the campaign trail to stump for Democratic candidates. All except for one.
Over the weekend, actress Kerry Washington joined gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock at the Atlanta University Center’s homecoming tailgate.
Oprah Winfrey campaigned virtually with Abrams last week. The longtime talk show host held an in-person rally for Abrams during the 2018 election, which the latter narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp.
Actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, best known for his role in the Broadway play Hamilton, campaigned with Sen. Warnock in Atlanta last week in an effort to energize Hispanic and Latino voters.
Barack Obama is also hitting the trail for Georgia Democrats. The former President is expected to visit a get-out-the-vote rally for Warnock and Abrams on Friday in Atlanta.
But there is one name missing from this increasingly long list of Democratic heavyweights: President Joe Biden. Two years after becoming the first Democrat to win Georgia’s electoral votes in nearly three decades, the President has been noticeably absent from the campaign trail in one of the nation’s biggest battleground states.
Biden campaigned heavily for Warnock leading up to last year’s Senate runoff elections. With control of Senate hanging in the balance, the then-President-elect urged Georgians to deliver him a Democratic majority so he could get his legislative priorities through Congress.
But Democrats are at a historical disadvantage in this year’s elections. The party in power almost always faces political headwinds in midterm elections. And the President’s job approvals remain underwater in several swing states, including Georgia.
At a campaign event in South Fulton on Saturday, I asked Sen. Warnock if he would welcome Biden to Georgia in the final weeks of the campaign. “I barely manage my own schedule, let alone somebody else’s,” he told me. “I always try to remain focused not on who I’m campaigning with, but who I’m campaigning for.”
Warnock is not alone. Democrats in other competitive races across the country are avoiding appearances with the President as their Republican opponents cast them as rubber stamps for his agenda.
“The Biden brand is poison with middle of the road voters,” said one Georgia Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous. They told me that they don’t believe Biden’s brand is as strong as it was in 2020. “I think campaigns have to do what’s right to win and if that means snubbing the President of the United States, then do it.”
Though Biden has secured major legislative victories, some key parts of his agenda have stalled. The lack of action on voting rights and police reform has frustrated many African-Americans — the backbone of today’s Democratic Party.
Republicans are taking full advantage of Biden’s low numbers. Warnock’s Republican opponent, Herschel Walker, frequently says on the campaign trail that the Democratic Senator votes with Biden “96% of the time.” Kemp has reminded voters of Abrams' close ties to Biden and has campaigned as the last line of defense against the President’s economic policies, which he says have been harmful to hard-working Georgians.
On the ground, Republicans tend to agree that avoiding Biden is a wise move for Democrats. “It’s definitely because of his unpopularity, which is due to the economy, inflation, the border, etc,” said Jonathan Casas, a field director for a Georgia Republican congressional candidate. “Democratic candidates need to seem like independent thinkers, not tied to partisan ‘Biden’ politics.”
Kemp has also taken notice of Biden’s absence. In a Fox News appearance, the governor said that he believes the President isn’t campaigning in Georgia “because his policies are very unpopular.”
Republicans have also avoided campaigning with their most powerful figure. Former President Donald Trump has been absent from the campaign trail since the primary. His last campaign stop in Georgia was in March.
Trump’s handpicked candidates have also avoided discussing the former President on the campaign trail as he faces low favorable numbers and a criminal investigation in Atlanta.
“Why are Republican candidates on the ballot — including Burt Jones — conspicuously avoiding Trump,” one Democratic state lawmaker asked me. Jones is the GOP nominee for Lieutenant Governor and was one of Trump’s false presidential electors in 2020. But he has tried to focus his campaign on state issues such as tackling crime and eliminating the state income tax.
Herschel Walker has also avoided discussing the former President on the campaign trail. And of course, we needn’t mention Gov. Kemp’s public falling out with Trump after the 2020 election.
With Trump on the sidelines, Republicans are also relying on their own political superstars to help turn out voters. Former Vice President Mike Pence held a fundraiser with Burt Jones. Republican U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Rick Scott have all stumped for Walker. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has campaigned with both Kemp and Walker. And former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has visited Georgia to campaign with Kemp, as has Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Both Democrats and Republicans are aware that Trump and Biden are not popular with Georgia voters. They seem to worry that a campaign visit from the leader of their party would do little to mobilize voters. So they are turning to celebrities and political heavyweights to energize a frustrated electorate. The question is will this dynamic continue in 2024, when both men could likely be competing in a presidential rematch?