Buttigieg says Abrams should have won the governor's race …

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Four of the main presidential Candidates are in Atlanta Thursday to court voters, the latest sign that Democrats consider Georgia as a battlefield ahead of the 2020 race.

US Senator Cory Booker and Mayor Pete Buttigieg will both speak at the Council of Afro-American leaders summit in a downtown Atlanta hotel.

Former Vice President Joe Biden and former representative Beto O'Rourke will close the day by featuring a Democratic Party fundraiser at Buckhead.

Although Georgia does not receive the same treatment as early-voting states, candidates come here earlier and more often than in previous presidential cycles. Follow live updates of the day's events below.

16:00.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, in Indiana, has been looking at what he has called "voter suppression schemes" across the country and Georgia.

"Stacey Abrams should be the governor of Georgia," Buttigieg said in a room filled with mostly black Democrats. "When the suppression of racially motivated voters is allowed, when the districts are chosen so that politicians can choose their voters rather than the other way around, when money is allowed to serve the citizens of that country. country, we can not really say that we live in a democracy. "

Buttigieg said the Democrats must defeat electoral repression efforts to redress the situation in their office.

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He added that if the Democrats were organizing and investing in Georgia, there was no reason for the state to be able to claim the Democratic presidential candidate next November.

"We invested in Ohio and not a lot in Georgia last time and we found that the results suggested that Georgia was no less at hand," he said. . "Part of that is demographics, but a big part of that is the organization."

Buttigieg also looked at "identity politics" and talked about using what he called his privilege to defend the interests of marginalized people.

"Because I am a man, it is twice as important for me to be with women whose freedom of reproduction is threatened today," he said. "And yes, because I'm white, it's twice as important to fight the inequalities that are manifesting among black Americans in our country."

2:15 p.m.

Most of the Georgian Democrats did not take sides in the presidential race, but Thursday's Joe Biden fundraiser was rich in success.

Former governor, Roy Barnes, was home to Mack Wilbourn at Ansley Park, as were Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former US Ambassador Andrew Young. .

A host of candidates and former candidates have also joined the crowd: US Senate candidate Teresa Tomlinson, former governor candidate Stacey Evans, and former 6th District candidates Kevin Abel and Bobby Kaple.

Biden spoke for about 30 minutes, thanking the crowd and pointing out the influential people in the room. He singled out Young, saying we "owe you a lot of gratitude," then nodded to Barnes.

"I can not tell you how much we would like to see another Democratic governor here," he said.

Biden noted that many of the more than 100 people on President Donald Trump spoke before saying, "He will fall – and I say it sincerely, I do not try to be devious – like an aberration."

Soon, he turned to the 75th anniversary of D-Day. After US and Allied forces "liberated Europe and saved the world," the leaders met "and decided to make sure we do not would never make those mistakes again.

One of their greatest achievements, he said, was NATO.

"What is it doing? It is destroying NATO," Biden said, referring to Trump. "If he is re-elected, watch: NATO will be disintegrated."

Biden added, with a sigh, that Trump was "tweeting about Bette Midler" while he was abroad to honor the dead of the war. And he remarked, with sarcasm, that he "really worries me" that dictator Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have criticized him.

He concluded on a more positive note, saying that the United States was about to "take over the 21st century."

"And the rest of the world needs us to be aware of it, because we are the glue that unites the world. We are the only country that can do that, "said Biden.

"If we continue to treat the other team as if it were the enemy and not the opposition, how are we going to accomplish something?", He asked.

"I'm not kidding, I'm deadly serious. If we do not change who we are, our children will inherit a country that will take a long time to get back on track. "

11:20

Pete Buttigieg has just completed a private fundraiser at one of Atlanta's democratic institutions: Manuel's Tavern.

The mayor of South Bend said he was on a "sacred floor" at the renovated bar, and he is right. Generations of presidential candidates have visited Manuel, founded by the former General Manager of DeKalb, Manuel Maloof, over the decades.

Jimmy Carter announced the candidacy of his governor at Manuel in 1970 and remains a loyal customer. Many local Democrats have organized events and fundraisers. Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore went to the tavern in the 1990s.

And Bill Clinton made an impromptu visit to the tavern in August 2016, as his wife's campaign for the presidency hit homestretch.

During the event, Buttigieg warned dozens of its donors that President Donald Trump "can absolutely win again, as unpopular as it may seem," if Democrats nominate a candidate who "has It seems to preserve the system ".

His campaign, he said, has a special ability to "represent something different and potentially unifying without trying to be all for all ideologically."

Buttigieg, one of three presidential candidates to perform the pilgrimage to the Plains, also highly appreciated his visit to Jimmy Carter. He called it an "incredible, almost spiritual experience".

11:00.

Cory Booker is optimistic for Georgia.

He told reporters that he felt that there were more Democrats in the state than Republicans, and echoed Stacey Abrams by stating that the party needed to focus on the government. registration of color voters for the first time in "neglected" communities.

"What we have to do is get people to vote," he said. "It's a blue state. That means we have to go back to the organization and building of a party made up of 50 states. "

Booker quickly highlighted several highlights of his campaign platform during his brief speech to summit participants, ranging from his desire to "take the torch of guns" and to ensuring access to health care, including abortion.

Booker and Democrats focused on Georgia's Bill 481, and several similar anti-abortion measures are being considered across the country. They prohibit the procedure as soon as a doctor can detect fetal heart activity.

Georgia's governor Brian Kemp signed the bill last month, but he will likely face court challenges before it can come into force in January. In his remarks, Booker called the law "anti-democratic law" and attack against women and low-income minorities.

"I think a lot of people will work to change that," he said. "But I think that until then no one should be silent on this issue. I think this silence is tantamount to complicity. "

9:30 am

Four presidential candidates travel to Georgia today, but remember that there is also a race in the US Senate on the ballot. Teresa Tomlinson is not.

The former mayor of Columbus is the only big Democratic defender of Republican David Perdue. She was present for Booker's speech.

She noted that the high number of presidential candidates in the state at the beginning of the campaign shows the importance of Georgia for next year's elections.

"They understand that we are moving at a very fast pace," she said shortly before the start of the morning's summit. "Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi – it's not what it used to be. We must ensure that our power structure begins to respond to demographic change. "