Southern Democrats putting pressure on Biden to choose Atlanta for DNC 2024

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - More than 60 Democratic mayors, state lawmakers, governors, congressmen and senators sent a letter Monday to President Joe Biden, urging him to select Atlanta as the site for the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

“Democratic turnout in the state of Georgia is the single greatest reason that you and Vice President Harris are in the White House today instead of Donald Trump,” the officials wrote in the letter, which was also sent to Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison.

“Instead of basking in what the pundits have declared an unlikely victory, we are now focused on maintaining this momentum into 2024 by assessing the strategies, tactics, and investments that helped us buck historical trends and expand our majority in the US Senate, a feat that was cemented this month with the reelection of Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia,” the officials wrote. “As Democratic leaders who have had to compete for votes in some of the most contested battlegrounds in our country, we humbly offer our own piece of advice: The Democratic Party should immediately select the city of Atlanta as the site of its 2024 presidential nominating convention.”

Mayor Andre Dickens and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams hosted Harrison and other members of the DNC technical advisory group last summer. Atlanta, New York City and Chicago are reported to be the finalists to host the convention.

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In May, Dickens announced the city would submit a formal bid to host the nominating convention. “We’re going to do everything in our power to bring the 2024 Democratic National Convention to Atlanta, Georgia,” Dickens told Democrats at their annual state party dinner.

The last - and only - time Atlanta has hosted a political convention was 1988, when Democrats nominated former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis to face Vice President George H.W. Bush. Dukakis had just won a hotly contested nomination battle over Jesse Jackson, while Bush was seeking to take advantage of then-President Ronald Reagan’s vast national popularity.

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Bush trounced Dukakis that November, carrying 40 states and winning 426 electoral votes. That was also the last election a presidential candidate won more than 400 electoral votes.

The 1988 Democratic convention was held at the Omni, now the site of State Farm Arena. Gov. Joe Frank Harris led Georgia’s delegation, which included former President Jimmy Carter and then-U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn.

On July 20, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton formally nominated Dukakis. Clinton would win his party’s White House nomination four years later and eventually unseat President Bush, becoming the first Democrat to occupy the White House since Carter.

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