President Joe Biden told a crowd of supporters in Atlanta Saturday he is “fighting like hell” for women’s access to reproductive care and to preserve democracy, during his first campaign stop in Georgia this year.
“It’s not hyperbole to suggest our freedoms are literally on the ballot this November,” he said to a roar of applause.
Biden spoke for about 21 minutes to a few hundred loyal Democrats at Pullman Yards, an event space in Atlanta, on a humid Saturday.
Biden made Georgia the second stop on a multi-state campaign swing to kick off his general election campaign against former President Donald Trump. With Georgia crucial to another victory, he noted that Trump was also in the state today, but campaigning in north Georgia with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
”You can tell a lot about a person by who he keeps company with,” Biden said.
He warned that returning Trump to the White House would reverse years of Democratic gains and allow Republicans to push more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, as well as restrictions against abortion and even in vitro fertilization.
”I will restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land,” Biden promised.
Chinye Enurah, a realtor who lives on the westside of Atlanta, said she was excited to hear Biden speak about affordable housing and reproductive rights.
“Our rights are in jeopardy. This is serious, and women need to show up to the polls like never before,” said Enurah, 44.
The campaign stop came ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Biden won Georgia narrowly in the previous presidential election, and Democrats have called the state a must-win to return him to the White House in 2024.
“Once again, Georgia will decide the fate of our republic,” said U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, before Biden took the stage. “The stakes could not be higher.”
Biden said he’s focused on bringing down the cost of prescription drug prices.
“Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the world. It’s wrong,” he said.
He also said he wants to ensure students can get a quality education without the burden of expensive loans and enable more people to afford homes. The speech repeated many of the same themes, and even some of the same quotes, from Thursday’s State of the Union address. He also touted the racial diversity of his administration and his appointments, especially of Black women, to judicial positions.
“We’ve already accomplished a lot. Now let’s talk about the future we can build together,” the president said.
A protester, who shouted angrily at Biden about his administration’s approach to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza was escorted from the event.
The protester was escorted out, his shouts drowned out by the president’s supporters chanting “four more years.” Biden then said, “I don’t resent his passion. There’s a lot of Palestinians who are being unfairly victimized.”
Biden said he developed a “comprehensive plan on immigration to secure our borders,” but he did not mention Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was killed Feb. 22 on the University of Georgia’s campus hours after going for a run. The suspect charged in Riley’s death, Jose Antonio Ibarra, lives in Athens but is not a U.S. citizen. Authorities say he entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was previously arrested in New York.
First lady Dr. Jill Biden visited Georgia last week to launch “Women for Biden-Harris,” a national organizing program intended to motivate women across the country to vote for the president and encourage their friends and family members to follow.
Both Biden and Trump have reason to believe they have a competitive edge in the Peach State.
Biden took Georgia in the 2020 presidential contest with 49.5% of the vote, winning by fewer than 12,000 votes. It was the first time Georgia voted for a Democrat for President since Bill Clinton in 1992 and its own former governor, Jimmy Carter, in 1976 and 1980.
Victory in Georgia may be determined by who can win over swing voters. Nearly 20% of Georgians weren’t ready to favor either candidate, according to a poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
With narrow paths to the nation’s highest office, both candidates are eyeing Georgia, which has seen a growth in residents of color and shift in political attitudes, especially among college-educated women in suburbs, to cross the finish line.
For Biden, Tuesday will test his supporters’ loyalty, as some critics in his party have encouraged Georgia voters to cast a blank ballot to signal their displeasure with his administration’s approach to the war in Gaza, which began Oct. 7 following a surprise attack from the terrorist group Hamas that killed about 1,200 Israelis. Since then, the region has seen intense fighting that has left around 30,000 Palestinian people dead.
A group protesters gathered outside the venue and called for his administration to end all U.S. aid to Israel.
”We want Biden to get the message, but we want the community to get the message too,“ Monica Johnson, an organizer with the far-left Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, whose election-year organizing was credited with helping deliver Georgia for Biden in 2020, was out of town this weekend, but Friday she told reporters she is proud to welcome Biden back to Georgia.
“We need four more years of President Biden because we need four more years of progress,” she said. “The investments he’s made through the CHIPS Act, through the [Inflation Reduction Act], and through the work that he has done to not only bolster our economy, but to turn the corner, can only continue to grow if he is in charge. We have heard what the other guy will do. And we need President Joe Biden leading the charge.”
Staff Reporters Patricia Murphy, Michael Kanell and Riley Bunch contributed to this report.
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