Georgia Democrats continued to feel the love from big names in blue politics across the country Tuesday during the second day of the Democratic National Convention.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker dropped by the Georgia delegation breakfast alongside fellow Midwestern Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who took the podium with a jab at Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican.
“I was with your U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock earlier, what a great speech you gave yesterday, yes? And I thought, ‘You know, Georgia needs a good governor,’ until you get one, I’m going to just show up for you,” Whitmer said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks to the Georgia delegation at the DNC. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
“There is no question, your state and my state are going to make the biggest difference in this election, right?” she added. “There are a handful of others, but what happens in Georgia, what happens in Michigan is going to impact the whole rest of the country and as this country goes, so goes the globe. So no pressure, but the whole world is relying on you, Georgia.”
Georgia, with 16 electoral votes, and Michigan, with 15, are among seven key swing states expected to help determine the outcome of the election. A New York Times/Sienna College poll released ahead of the DNC found Republican former President Donald Trump leading in Georgia with 47% of the vote, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris tallying 41% and 5% for independent Robert Kennedy.
Not too long ago, Georgia was considered a red state, but President Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 victory validated Democrats’ claims that the state had turned purple, as did the statewide wins of Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. The shift came on the back of years of young, diverse voters moving to Atlanta and its suburbs.
“You all have a lot to teach the rest of us,” Pritzker told the crowd of delegates. “You know, in a red state, how to fight and how to win.”
Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks to the Georgia delegation at the DNC. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Whitmer said her state could be a model for Georgia moving forward.
“My friends from red states, I always want to point out that up until 2022, Michigan was in that category too,” she said. “Up until 2022, until we started showing up in every part of the state, engaging every person, no matter how red their county was or not, until we did that, we were in the minority.”
But Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said her state provides a model Georgia Democrats would rather avoid.
“Florida was obviously a little bit more purple in recent elections, and we’re scratching and clawing to get back to that place,” she said. “But thank you for at least redeeming us and replacing us and winning in the last election this incredible state. I have a special place in my heart for the state of Georgia.”
Florida, once the nation’s foremost swing state, has become a Republican stronghold in recent years.
“Civil rights, voting rights, LGBTQ plus rights, women’s reproductive rights, they’re all on the line,” Schultz said. “Now Florida and Georgia, we are almost like twins on those issues because we know what the extreme American Republicans have in store for America. Like Florida, right-wing extremists use your much beloved state as a testing ground for Project 2025.”
Project 2025 is the blueprint created by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation to reshape the federal government under a Republican administration.
