HAPPENING TODAY: VP Harris to headline fundraisers in Atlanta

VP to make third GA trip of the year

Kamala Harris

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Atlanta on Friday to headline a fundraising event for the Democratic National Committee.

Harris will then join Georgia Democrats for their annual spring soirée later in the evening.

Air Force Two is expected to land at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at around 2:00PM. Harris’ visit will cause headaches for drivers during the Friday afternoon commute.

It will be Vice President Harris’ third trip to Georgia this year, but the first since President Joe Biden kicked off his campaign for re-election.

In April, Harris toured a solar power plant in Dalton to highlight the Biden administration’s push for green energy. In February, she visited Georgia Tech’s campus to discuss climate change and economic issues.

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Friday’s trip comes after a series of setbacks for Georgia Democrats. We learned this month that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, had denied the party’s push for an earlier presidential primary date.

It was announced last month that Chicago will be hosting the 2024 Democratic National Convention, despite Atlanta leaders making a huge push to host the quadrennial gathering.

But it is very clear that Biden’s campaign understands Georgia’s role as a battleground state. His narrow 12,000-vote victory in 2020 made him the first Democrat to carry Georgia’s electoral votes since Bill Clinton in 1992.

That victory was followed up by a Democratic sweep in two Senate runoff elections in January 2021, which handed the party control of the U.S. Senate.

But 2022 proved to be a mixed bag for Georgia Democrats. Though Sen. Raphael Warnock was re-elected, they lost every statewide constitutional office by wider margins than they did in 2018 — a sign that the Peach State’s battleground status has not reached the state level just yet.

Republican White House hopefuls also have Georgia on their minds. In March, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to enter the race in the coming weeks, spoke to supporters at a gun shop in Smyrna.