Joe Biden will travel to Georgia on Tuesday, the Democratic presidential nominee’s first campaign trip to a state that hasn’t voted for a Democrat since 1992 but one where polls show a tight race.
Biden plans to travel to Warm Springs and Atlanta, said people familiar with his plans, as Democrats focus on flipping a state that’s been trending in their direction.
President Trump won Georgia by five percentage points in 2016, but Democrats have made inroads in the state, particularly among white, college educated voters.
The RealClearPolitics average of state polls has Trump and Biden tied.
Democrats are also hoping to win the two Senate races in the state, with Jon Ossoff running even with Senator David Perdue at 43% in a recent New York Times poll.
The other race is a special election that is likely headed to a runoff in January as a candidate needs to clear 50% to win.
But the Times poll found Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, leading the other candidates, including Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler.
Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris campaigned in Georgia on Friday and Jill Biden is scheduled to visit on Monday.
According to a recent Quinnipiac poll in Georgia, Biden leads 51 – 44 percent among likely voters, while 4 percent are undecided.
The state has been turned blue in the FiveThirtyEight forecast:
Look which state just turned blue in the snake.https://t.co/ajG88SznSA pic.twitter.com/sHnroFJKtS
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 14, 2020
“For Trump, 2016 is a distant memory. Defeating Hillary Clinton by 5 points when the polls closed then, and now down seven to Biden with three weeks to go. Warning lights are blinking red and alarms are going off in the Peach Tree state,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.