Southern Democrats Rally for Atlanta to Host Party’s 2024 National Convention

Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock hand out lawn signs at a campaign event in Lithonia, Ga., on Oct. 3, 2020. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

More than 65 Southern Democrat politicians from 13 states signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to select Atlanta as the host city for the party’s 2024 convention.

South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen, Alabama State Party Chair Randall Kelly, Alabama U.S. Rep. Terry Sewell as well as Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock, signed the Jan. 30 letter in which Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison was copied in.

“Selecting the city of Atlanta will offer our nation a vision of America at its best,” the letter states.

“Atlanta served as the cradle of America’s civil rights movement. It stands as a beacon of LGBT rights in the Deep South. As the cultural and economic hub of Black America, the city embodies the American Dream in the 21st century.”

Putting the Case

Atlanta is a finalist along with New York and Chicago.

Houston’s mayor Sylvester Turner is the only politician from the Lone Star State who signed the letter after his city was eliminated from the selection process. Like Turner, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval is the lone representative for Ohio.

“We are now focused on maintaining this momentum into 2024 by assessing the strategies, tactics, and investments that helped us buck historical trends and expand our majority in the U.S. Senate, a feat that was cemented ...  with the reelection of Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia,” stated the letter.

While the correspondence was a plea, the politicians boldly took credit for defeating former President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election while noting that metro Atlanta’s favorable swing is responsible for everything the party accomplished since January 2021.

“Democratic turnout in the state of Georgia is the single greatest reason that you and Vice President Harris are in the White House today instead of Donald Trump and it is the single greatest reason why Democrats have maintained a majority in the United States Senate,” they said.

Sending a Message

“While some pundits might argue that there is no correlation between a convention site and partisan performance in the ensuing election, holding the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta will have effects that reverberate far beyond Georgia’s borders,” the Democrats said.

“Selecting Atlanta in the aftermath of the 2022 election cycle will send a message to the base of our party that we will never take you for granted.”

The coalition of former senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, and lawmakers, argued that hosting the 2024 convention in Atlanta is an opportunity for the DNC to embroil the GOP in financial expenditures.

“Selecting Atlanta will inspire Democrats in other competitive Southern states to run, to organize, to fundraise, and to volunteer in what is now truly fertile Democratic territory,” the letter concluded.

“Selecting Atlanta will put Republicans on notice, making it abundantly clear to them that they will have to compete and allocate resources across every corner of the map if they want to keep pace with the gains we are making as Democrats.”