Trump Pursues Black Voters In Speech, Reiterating Georgia's Battleground Status

President Trump on Friday announced a broad set of proposals aimed at helping Black Americans prosper if he is reelected, wrapping up a consequential week in Georgia politics that shows how pivotal the state is to control of the White House and the U.S. Senate.

In front of about 250 Black supporters in a suburban Atlanta ballroom, the president was light on specifics and heavy on attacks against Democrats, especially former Vice President Joe Biden, as Trump tries to make inroads with a community that gave him less than 10% of the vote in the 2016 election.

"Racial justice begins with Joe Biden's retirement from public life," Trump said. "So today, I'm urging Black Americans to walk away from the corrupt, hateful, divisive and very extreme – and they are going crazy – Democrat Party."

Part of what drew people like self-employed entrepreneur April Chapman from Atlanta to the rally is a belief that the president was doing his job to boost the economy before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

"The trajectory that this country was headed before the pandemic, we were winning," she said. "And I think the way he has handled things, in spite of all the opposition coming at him, has been amazing. The average American would have caved or crumbled under this intense pressure that President Trump has experienced."

Chapman, who was also in attendance when Trump launched his "Black Voices" coalition in Atlanta last fall, said that she disagreed with decisions state and local governments made to enact strict lockdowns to stop the spread of COVID-19, arguing that personal choices about health and lifestyle were what led to the virus having a disproportionate impact on Black people.

"So let's have a conversation about how we can boost our immune system versus blaming the president," she said. 

Many of the attendees at the Cobb Galleria have been active in the Black Voices for Trump coalition from the start, including Atlanta jeweler Bruce LeVell, who has been a presidential adviser for years. LeVell said Black voters had plenty of evidence that Trump's agenda was working for them, from low Black unemployment levels pre-pandemic to opportunity zones that encourage investment into low-income communities.

"One of the big things that the pandemic shut down unfortunately is the empowerment of opportunity zones, where Black businesses can go in and partner and grow in these underserved communities," he said. "But one of the things, too, is the access to capital component."

Part of the president's policy proposals circulated ahead of his speech pledged to create 3 million jobs for the Black community, creating half a million new Black-owned businesses and pumping in half a trillion dollars in capital to Black communities, but much of the afternoon was spent bashing Democrats instead.

"The Democrat Party's war on cops has caused Black-owned businesses to be burned and Black homes and churches to be totally destroyed," Trump said. "Most tragically of all, so many innocent black lives have been cruelly taken from us."

Trump also said he did more in 47 months than Biden did in 47 years for Black voters, something Georgia Democrats strongly disputed the morning before the president's arrival.

Georgia House Democratic Caucus chairman James Beverly said when Trump asked Black voters "What the hell do you have to lose?" by voting for him during the last election cycle, the answer was clear.

"We lost jobs, we've lost lives and we've lost faith in an administration that has failed us," he said. "It has never been more important to vote and show up in November."

This week, the Biden campaign also launched a new set of ads in Georgia targeting Black voters, including a spot highlighting the historic nature of Sen. Kamala Harris' vice presidential nomination. In a statement, Biden blasted Trump for his policies on the coronavirus pandemic and health care that have impacted Georgians.

"Black Georgians have been hit particularly hard by this crisis — 3,000 Black Georgians have died, 430,000 Black Georgians are uninsured, and 11.8% of Black Georgians have been left jobless," he said. "And, in the midst of this global health pandemic and economic crisis, President Trump is still working to tear down the Affordable Care Act and take away protections for Georgians with pre-existing conditions."

Caption

President Donald J. Trump speaks in Cobb County about his Black empowerment plan.

Credit: Stephen Fowler | GPB News

Trump also highlighted the tight races for both of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats, calling out several top Georgia Republicans in attendance, including Sen. David Perdue (who asked the president to endorse Brian Kemp for governor), and Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Rep. Doug Collins who are both battling for GOP votes in the 21-person special election to fill the rest of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson's term.

"I want to congratulate you both, really fighting a good fight," the president said to Collins and Loeffler. "You're going to be in there fighting, fighting, fighting. Don't anybody get out! You're going to go and everybody's going to come with them. And the only thing I know for sure, they're all going to vote for me."

This week, the feud between the two grew deeper after Loeffler, appointed to fill the seat out of a desire to win back moderate suburban women, released a widely mocked ad claiming she is "more conservative than Attila the Hun."

Collins, who represents one of the most conservative House districts in the country, shot back that Loeffler comparing herself to a murderous warlord showed she had a contemptible view of her potential constituents.

Both were shaking hands and taking selfies after the speech Friday, and were asked separately about the ads and the state of the race.

"Look, I think it's a cluttered time in political messaging," Loeffler said. "These ads have broken through." 

"Sen. Loeffler has no idea what conservatism is," Collins replied, "if that's what she believes conservatism is."

The two Republicans are neck-and-neck in several recent polls, followed closely behind by Democrat Raphael Warnock, the pastor of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. 

Warnock's rise in the polls has coincided with a growing chorus of calls for Matt Lieberman, another Democrat in the race polling fourth, to drop out and consolidate support behind Warnock.

In another bizarre twist this week, Lieberman has pushed back against those calls, attacking Warnock for "using race to divide Georgians," accusing former gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams of "candidate suppression" and mocking Warnock's endorsement by former President Obama and dozens of Democratic senators as being "beholden to the bosses."

Several polls released this week have Georgia deadlocked in the race for the White House and for the Senate race between Sen. Perdue and Jon Ossoff. The special election will see the top two candidates, regardless of party, head to a January runoff.