President Joe Biden sought to downplay Stacey Abrams’s decision to skip his major voting legislation push in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Abrams, the leading Democrat in Georgia’s gubernatorial race and a key Biden ally, announced Monday that a “scheduling conflict” would preclude her from taking part in Tuesday’s events, including a memorial service for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and televised remarks from both the president and Vice President Kamala Harris.
GEORGIA ACTIVIST GROUPS SKIPPING OUT ON BIDEN’S VOTING RIGHTS EVENTS IN ATLANTA
Biden, upon departing the White House Tuesday morning, told reporters that he is “insulted” at the suggestion that Abrams intentionally skipped the events.
“We have a great relationship,” he said. “We got our scheduling mixed up.”
“I risk not saying what I believe,” the president added of Democrats’ risky decision to push for voting rights in an election year. “This is one of those defining moments, where were they before and where were they after the vote.”
“History is going to judge this,” Biden said. “And so the risk is making sure people understand just how important this is.”
NEW: I asked the president what he risks politically on voting rights when he knows the Senate opposition. “I risk not saying what I believe in..history will judge…where were they before and where were they after the vote…” pic.twitter.com/Uer1hA0PbC
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) January 11, 2022
Abrams isn’t the only voting rights activist who decided not to attend Biden’s events in Atlanta. Four of the issue’s largest activist groups, the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Asian American Advocacy Fund, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, and the GALEO Impact Action Fund, all announced Monday that they viewed the president’s trip as a publicity stunt devoid of a substantive plan to enact legislation.
“Georgia voters made history and made their voices heard, overcoming obstacles, threats, and suppressive laws to deliver the White House and the U.S. Senate,” the groups said in a statement. “In return, a visit has been forced on them, requiring them to accept political platitudes and repetitious, bland promises. Such an empty gesture, without concrete action, without signs of real, tangible work, is unacceptable.”
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“We do not need any more speeches, we don’t need any more platitudes,” former President of the Georgia NAACP James Woodall said in a separate statement. “We don’t need any more photo ops. We need action, and that actually is in the form of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, as well as the Freedom to Vote Act — and we need that immediately.”
