Southern Democrats make push for convention in Atlanta

Southern Democrats are pushing for President Biden to pick Atlanta to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention over fellow finalists New York City and Chicago.

Current and former lawmakers and leaders from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia were among more than five dozen signatories who penned an imploring letter to the president, shared by NBC News.

“Democratic turnout in the state of Georgia is the single greatest reason that you and Vice President Harris are in the White House today instead of Donald Trump and it is the single greatest reason why Democrats have maintained a majority in the United States Senate,” the letter to Biden reads. 

“While some pundits might argue that there is no correlation between a convention site and partisan performance in the ensuing election, holding the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta will have effects that reverberate far beyond Georgia’s borders,” it added.

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win in Georgia against Trump-backed Republican candidate Herschel Walker delivered a crucial win to Senate Democrats, bumping up their majority to 51-49. Warnock is notably among the letter’s signatories, along with fellow Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, five Georgia representatives and other state leaders.

The Democrats in the letter argue that selecting Atlanta would be key to acknowledging Georgia voters’ contributions during the midterms and spurring them to get out the vote to reelect Biden and Harris. 

Biden has not yet formally announced whether he’ll mount a 2024 bid to stay in the White House but has said that he intends to and is expected to announce a campaign as soon as next month.

The Atlanta advocates also say selecting the city will “inspire Democrats in other competitive Southern states to run, to organize, to fundraise, and to volunteer in what is now truly fertile Democratic territory” and could doubly serve to “put Republicans on notice” for competitive future races. 

“Let’s nominate Joe Biden in the very building where over 40,000 Georgians cast their ballots – the deciding ballots for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes – for him in 2020. Hosting the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia will reignite the sense of enthusiasm that led him to victory and inspire Democrats around the country down the home stretch in 2024,” the letter concludes.