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“You always feel the relief in the air,” said Mariama Davis, who has dedicated countless hours volunteering for President and Vice President Kamala Harris. “We’re actually on the verge of going back to a somewhat normal situation that we were used to before. So, honestly, I’m satisfied.”
Davis is among the voters who not only helped Biden carry Georgia – the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so since 1992 – but also helped Democrats take control of the Senate. Gaining a majority in the upper house made the Covid-19 relief bill a reality.
For the first time since taking office, Biden and Harris travel to Georgia on Friday, as part of a series of stops across the country that the administration calls the “Help is Here” tour. The state suddenly emerged as one of the country’s most crucial battlegrounds, with one of the country’s biggest struggles for the right to vote also underway.
Davis said she can feel how much this $ 1.9 trillion relief plan is already lifting small businesses and their customers. She runs the Beehive, a store here in Atlanta.
“This week alone,” said Davis, “we have been gloriously overwhelmed by the numbers we have achieved.”
But the White House’s plan to promote the Covid relief program took a dark turn after a rampage here this week killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. White House officials ended up canceling a planned evening rally intended to help explain the benefits of the law.
Instead, the president and vice president are expected to meet with Asian American leaders. Yet the White House has stopped calling the shootings a hate crime, despite calls to do so.
In Atlanta, Biden and Harris are also due to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meeting with experts on the same day the administration announced it would meet its goal of giving 100 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
“We’re going to beat this,” Biden said Thursday. “We are well ahead of schedule, but we still have a long way to go.”
The White House said the rally, which was to be the first in a series of campaign-style events touting the benefits of the law, would be postponed. But it was no coincidence that the location chosen was Georgia.
For Biden and Harris, there is no state like that.
In November, Biden narrowly beat President Donald Trump here by around 12,000 votes, which was counted over and over again in a series of post-election reviews. And in January, that victory became even sweeter for Democrats after Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff swept their runs in the second round, ending Republican control of the Senate.
“I shudder at what would have happened if the Georgians had not come out in historic numbers and overthrown the Senate,” said Nse Ufot, chief executive of the New Georgia Project, a voter registration group .
Biden’s victory came with considerable backlash, with Georgian Republicans trying to pass new laws to make voting more difficult. A new expansive voting bill unveiled on Wednesday would give the state broad powers over local election officials, set limits on early voting on weekends and add voter identification requirements for postal votes.
Ufot said she believes the Biden administration should speak more forcefully about attempts in Georgia and across the country to reduce voting rights. She also hopes Biden will prioritize federal election reviews, which can only happen by clearing the Senate filibuster.
“I think the president could say clearly and forcefully that there are not two sides of this debate and that there has not been widespread electoral fraud,” Ufot said. “It could also provide cover for some of the CEOs who are not on whether or not to look into this matter.”
Ufot is among the progressive leaders who say they are satisfied with the first two months of Biden’s presidency, but they are eager to hear concrete plans on more of his campaign pledges, including a federal minimum wage of $ 15, which has been removed from the Covid. relief bill.
When asked how patient she was, she replied, “I have no patience at all. Our people are suffering.”
Even though a new season is looming here, with trees and flowers already in bloom, some front yards are still dotted with Biden-Harris countryside signs. Two owners in the Inman Park neighborhood say they are leaving their blue and white signs in support of Biden, which they say allowed them to expire after four years of Trump.
“It’s a lot more peaceful. There’s just a weight that has been taken off,” said Kevin Randolph, a retired teacher who has supported Biden. “You can see it in town; everyone is so thrilled.”
It’s that joy that comes to life in conversations with Biden supporters like Davis, whose businesses have benefited – literally – from Georgia’s bluing.
“We saw an influx of orders from across the country, because people wanted to support black businesses, especially in Georgia, to say thank you,” said Davis, who runs the store owned by his sister.
She understands the urgency in the minds of some Democrats, who want Biden to start taking more progressive positions. But she said she was ready to give him some time.
“Everyone just needs to relax and be patient. Can we get to 100 days?” Davis laughed as he closed his store one evening this week. “It doesn’t all happen overnight, and people know it. This is government we’re talking about and they like to do things very slowly, which pisses me off, but I’ll be patient.”
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