©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden walks at Joint Base Andrews before departing for a campaign event in Philadelphia, Maryland, U.S., March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
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By James Oliphant and Nandita Bose
(Reuters) – President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will campaign in the critical state of Georgia on Saturday, in what will essentially be the first matchup of the 2024 general election.
Both candidates have accused each other of being a threat to democracy for weeks, but Saturday will mark the first time this year that both will be on the same battlefield at the same time.
There may be no more hotly contested state than Georgia in the Nov. 5 general election, which swung to Biden in the 2020 election and was central to Trump’s false claims that he was the victim of widespread voter fraud. He faces criminal charges in the state for his attempts to interfere with vote counting there.
Trump is expected to clinch his party’s nomination on Tuesday, when Georgia, along with Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state hold nominating contests.
On Thursday, Biden delivered a State of the Union address laden with criticism of Trump, accusing him of threatening democracy, kowtowing to Russia and scuttling bipartisan immigration reform.
The president, however, continues to face backlash from Democrats over his staunch support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, discontent that could manifest itself in Tuesday’s vote in Georgia.
A coalition of multifaith and multiracial groups in Georgia launched a campaign Tuesday calling on voters to leave their ballots blank instead of voting for Biden, hoping to send a message to the White House to reconsider its support for Israel.
In February’s battleground Michigan primary, more than 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” rather than support Biden in protest over Gaza, and a similar percentage of voters made the same choice in last Tuesday’s Minnesota primary . Such actions amplified concerns among Democrats that some voters might choose to stay home in November.
“Biden cannot win again (in Georgia) if young voters, black voters, Muslim voters, Arab-American voters, Jewish voters and others who supported him last time decide to stay home or decide to vote for a third-party candidate,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, spokesman for the Listen to Georgia coalition.
Mitchell said the goal of the effort would be to get closer to the margin — about 11,000 votes — by which Biden won the state to convey the risk they believe the president is taking on the Gaza war.
COLLISION COURSE
Trump will hold a rally Saturday night in Rome, Georgia, a conservative bastion in the state that is in the district of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an outspoken ally who attended the State of the Union address dressed in Trump attire.
Biden will then hold an evening event in the Atlanta area. The city’s suburbs, which are growing and diversifying rapidly, are seen as key to Democratic hopes in the state.
Top Democratic officials and Biden campaign officials fear the hard-won 2020 state risks slipping out of their clutches in 2024 as discontent from Black voters threatens to suppress turnout. Biden beat Trump in Georgia by just 0.23% in 2020.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the state’s top elections official, Brad Raffensperger, were adamant that no widespread fraud had occurred and that the vote count was legitimate despite Trump’s insistence to the contrary.
In Georgia, prosecutors accuse Trump and his allies of engaging in a conspiracy by making false statements about the election and developing a plan to disrupt and delay Congress’ certification of electoral votes. Trump denies the accusations.
Trump and his co-defendants are attempting to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case, alleging that she was involved in an “improper relationship” with a special prosecutor she appointed for the case and that she benefited financially from the relationship. Willis has denied the allegations.
Last month, a Fulton County judge heard arguments on Trump’s request and is expected to issue a ruling within days.
Prosecutors have pushed to start the Trump trial in Georgia as early as August, when Trump would be in the heat of the campaign. But it is unclear whether it will move forward before the elections.