Less than a hundred days before the election, Georgia is back in the news
As of July 24, there are just 100 days until the pivotal general election, which could either make Kamala Harris the first woman of color in the Oval Office or see former President Donald Trump secure a non-consecutive second term.
Harris, set to visit Atlanta on Tuesday, will make her sixth appearance in Georgia this year. This visit marks her first as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee following President Joe Biden’s unexpected announcement last Sunday that he is ending his 2024 reelection campaign.
Previously, Harris’s appearances in Atlanta have focused on issues such as gun safety and economic opportunity. Her campaign has received endorsements from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Georgia’s state House and Senate Democrats, and much of the state’s congressional delegation.
Biden’s withdrawal has quickly dominated national political discourse, overshadowing other significant events like the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the unified GOP following the Republican National Convention.
Trump, who recently held a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, attacked Harris for the first time since Biden’s withdrawal. In his speech, Trump declared, “I was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot, I became nice. If you don’t mind, I’m not going to be nice. Is that okay?” This remark was met with enthusiastic applause from his supporters.
Recent polls suggest a competitive race between Harris and Trump. An NPR/PBS News Marist Poll from July 22, 2024, shows Trump narrowly leading Harris 46% to 45%, with 9% undecided. In contrast, a Reuters poll indicates Harris has a slight edge over Trump. The Quinnipiac University poll, conducted from July 19-21, 2024, shows a tight contest, with Trump at 49% and Harris at 47%.
If Biden had stayed in the race, it would have been the first time two presidential candidates faced each other in consecutive elections since 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson again.
The Democratic National Convention will be held in Chicago from August 19-22, 2024. Harris appears to have secured enough delegates to win the nomination, with attention now turning to her choice of vice presidential running mate.
Trump’s unprecedented GOP nomination includes several historic firsts: the same candidate nominated for three consecutive years, an impeached president seeking another term, and the first major party nominee who is a convicted felon. Additionally, Trump is now the first major party nominee to have survived an assassination attempt.
In a historical twist, Biden’s withdrawal marks the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 that a sitting president has ended his reelection bid. It also means that the 2024 ballot will be the first without the names “Biden,” “Bush,” or “Clinton” since 1976.
Trump’s selection of U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio represents the first appearance of a millennial on a presidential ticket. If Trump wins in November, he will become the second former president to be elected to the White House after losing a reelection bid, a feat first achieved by Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.
