ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said Tuesday that President Joe Biden told him Atlanta had been among the top-2 choices for the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
But, ultimately, it wasn't top-1. The choice to host the party convention went to Chicago, instead.
The mayor said President Biden personally told him in a phone call about the choice before Dickens spoke at an event early Tuesday.
"Atlanta, we wanted to be the host site for the DNC 2024. My team and I, we put up a good fight, we worked hard, congratulations to Chicago. We respect the decision of the White House and President Biden," Dickens said. "They gave me a call just right before this event and told me the decision was made, and they said Atlanta was top two in all the nation - we were hoping we'd be top 1, but they said next time maybe."
Atlanta was considered a strong candidate after Georgia's turn for Biden in 2020 was one of the key swings in delivering the Democrat the presidency.
"We're hoping that we continue to spread the presidential map south, so that everybody knows that Georgia's in play for the Democrats and that the nation should continue to keep an eye on Atlanta," Dickens said.
The mayor also said in an official statement:
While we are of course disappointed in this decision, I just spoke with Gov. Pritzker to extend our congratulations to the city of Chicago for landing the 2024 Democratic National Convention. We are confident in their ability to provide President Biden with a world-class nominating convention. Atlanta fought hard and left everything out on the field. We welcomed the opportunity to showcase not only our world-class facilities but to highlight the civic culture that makes Atlanta truly special: This is the city that represents the future of the Democratic Party.
Georgia is the battleground that will decide the 2024 election and Atlanta is the city that will deliver for Democrats up and down the ballot. Just as we won in 2020, 2021 and 2022, we will win again in 2024 if we make the right investments, inspire our base, and honor the legacy of those who came before us by tirelessly organizing block by block. Even without the convention, Atlanta will fight to keep Georgia blue and expand the Democratic map in the South.
The Democratic Party, in its release announcing the decision, framed the choice of Chicago as a way to reinforce the Midwest, "a critical Democratic stronghold."
"Illinois along with Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota – part of the 'blue wall' – were crucial to the 2020 victory of President Biden and Vice President Harris and to Democrats’ success in the 2022 midterm elections," the DNC said.
More about the 2024 DNC decision
The decision, confirmed by a Democratic official who spoke on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity before an official announcement, comes after President Joe Biden chose Chicago over finalists that also included Atlanta and New York.
Illinois Democratic Gov. J. B. Pritzker was a key voice in lobbying for Chicago. He pointed to Democratic desires to expand their electoral gains in the Midwest, particularly in Michigan, where the party held the governorship and won control of both chambers of the Legislature during last fall’s midterms.
That Chicago beat out Atlanta was nonetheless a surprise given Georgia’s strategic importance as a swing state. Biden won Georgia two years ago, becoming the first Democrat to do so in a presidential election since Clinton in 1992, and his party now controls both of its Senate seats after wins that drew national attention the last two cycles.
Chicago hosted the infamous 1968 Democratic convention that is best remembered for a brutal clash between police and protesters opposing the Vietnam War. The last Democratic National Convention in the city was in 1996, when President Bill Clinton won a second term.
Though Atlanta is as thoroughly Democratic as Chicago and New York, Georgia could very well be a major deciding factor in the 2024 presidential race.
Still, some top Democrats worried about its Republican-controlled Legislature and state laws discouraging union membership and LGBTQ rights. There were also concerns about Georgia’s relaxed firearms laws, especially given the rash of school shootings around the country — despite gun violence being a persistent problem in Chicago.
But shunning Atlanta for the convention could serve as a double blow to Georgia, which may also eventually lose its early place in a new Democratic primary calendar.
Biden endorsed moving Georgia to the No. 4 position in a revamped Democratic primary calendar for 2024 — changes meant to better empower the party’s deeply diverse voter base than the old system, which led off with overwhelmingly white Iowa.
Under a new primary order approved by the Democratic National Committee in March, Georgia would have gone after leadoff South Carolina, and following Nevada and New Hampshire, which were set to go second simultaneously. It was slated ahead of Michigan, a new early Democratic primary state at No. 5.
That top five would have the chance to vote before much of the rest of the country on Super Tuesday in early March.
Georgia, though, could be stripped of the fourth spot since Republican state officials have refused to move to an earlier date that wouldn’t coincide with the GOP’s presidential primary next year.
Securing the convention might have softened the blow of being forced out of the primary’s early lineup — but wasn’t to be.