In what is becoming an unavoidable possibility, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will square off in a dueling event on Saturday in Georgia.
Though for weeks both candidates have been accusing one another of being a threat to democracy, this will be the first time both will be in the same battleground state at the same time this year on Saturday.
According to a report by CNN, Fred Hicks, a Democratic strategist based in Georgia was quoted as saying, "Georgia has been ground zero on the national political landscape since 2018. It's appropriate that this would be the first major stop after the State of the Union where the president is restarting his campaign, and where Donald Trump is trying to regain momentum."
As part of his month-long effort to speak with swing state voters directly, Biden will visit the Atlanta region on his post-State of the Union tour. Biden's visit Saturday follows first lady Jill Biden campaigning in the state.
Simultaneously, Trump will host a rally in the northwest corner of the state. Trump will hold a rally on Saturday evening in Rome, Georgia, a conservative bastion in the state that lies within the district of U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an outspoken ally who attended the State of the Union address clad in Trump gear, reported Reuters.
Trump's main rival for the GOP nomination, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign this week after a rout on Super Tuesday, when she won the Vermont primary but lost 14 other contests.
Like it did in 2020, when Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992, the state is probably going to be crucial in the general election. In Georgia, Biden defeated Trump by a mere 11,779 votes, or less than a quarter of a percentage point.
Biden's contention that his predecessor poses a threat to American democracy will continue to be highlighted by the former president's ongoing racketeering trial in Fulton County.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and the state's top election official, Brad Raffensperger, were adamant that there was no widespread fraud and that the vote count was legitimate.
Nonetheless, early state polls have Trump leading. Unlike in 2020, Georgia will not be involved in the US Senate race, so the Biden campaign will have to mobilize voters on its own without the assistance of significant candidates farther down the ballot.
Next week, Biden will head to New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan.
