The Atlanta Journal-Constitution didn’t hold back after Democrats snubbed it in favor of Chicago for their 2024 national convention, declaring “Say it ain’t so, Joe” in a front-page headline on Wednesday.
The AJC noted President Biden and Democrats had selected a city in “one of the most solidly Democratic states,” ran a front-page column saying it was “your loss” and called it a “blow to Democrats in Georgia and across the South.”
The move has raised eyebrows given Illinois is safely blue while Georgia’s emergence as a swing state has been one of the most significant regional political developments in recent years. But the DNC and Biden, in part due to his close ties to billionaire Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D., opted for Chicago as a nod to cementing party control of the upper Midwest. Democratic governors in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin were all re-elected in 2022, the AJC noted.
“By forgoing Atlanta for blue-state Illinois, national Democrats are also jettisoning a chance to gain a bigger foothold in a pivotal battleground state that both parties see as key to winning in 2024,” the AJC reported. Southern Democrats also said it would have been another chance to show the party wasn’t neglecting Black supporters, as they were instrumental to Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia in 2020.
DNC TO HOLD 2024 CONVENTION IN CHICAGO
Political insider columnist Patricia Murphy called it a “breakup we never saw coming.”
“After months of assurances and happy talk from Democratic boosters, BAM! The DNC picked Chicago over Atlanta for the 202 Democratic National Convention,” she wrote. “Sure, maybe Chicago has more family money. And at high noon on a day in late August, maybe Chicago is a better-looking date than Atlanta’s hazy, sauntering sauna… Trust me, DNC, this is your loss.”
After wryly noting the “wildly well-connected” Pritzker family and its wealth came into play – Pritzker impressed Democrats by promising to help cover costs of an event that could…
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