7:56 p.m. ET, October 27, 2020
Biden campaigns in Atlanta a week before Election Day: "We win Georgia, we win everything"
From CNN's Sarah Mucha
Drew Angerer/Getty Images North
Delivering remarks at a drive-in rally in Atlanta Tuesday, Joe Biden emphasized that his presence in Georgia one week until the election means that Democrats believe the state is in play.
“You know, there aren’t a lot of pundits who would have guessed four years ago that a Democratic candidate for president in 2020 would be campaigning in Georgia on the final week of the election or that we’d have such competitive Senate races in Georgia. But we do. Because something’s happening here in Georgia and across America," he said.
Biden went on to say that people of all races and ages are coming together to “transcend the old divides” in the battle for the soul of America.
On Monday, the Democratic nominee told reporters he believes his campaign has a "fighting chance" in the state.
While he mostly stuck to delivering his standard stump speech, hitting the President on his handling of the pandemic and lack of a health care plan, Biden did express optimism at several points throughout his speech about winning the state of Georgia.
“It’s time to stand up and take back our democracy. And any place we can do it, here in Georgia — we win Georgia, we win everything,” he said to end his remarks.
“Folks, I think we are going to surprise the living devil out of everybody this year,” he said at the beginning of his speech. He argued for the importance of flipping the US Senate, adding, “There's no state more consequential than Georgia in that fight. You have two competitive races here at stake.”
He criticized Georgia Sen. David Perdue for pretending like he couldn’t pronounce Sen. Kamala Harris’ name. “Let's give the people of Georgia two new senators who will fight for your interests, not for Donald Trump's interests,” Biden began. “And not continue, as Perdue and others have, to make fun of my running mate.”
Biden made a call for decency as he provided an example of the kind of character that’s on the ballot in the state. “I love how these guys try to degrade everything and everybody,” he said. “It's got to stop and it's going to stop with us. Folks, it's go time. There's one week left.”
The Democratic nominee said in Atlanta that if he is elected, he will commit to have a section of the White House outreach office dedicated to the Divine Nine, a group of nine historically black fraternities and sororities.