In a display of institutional might, Hillary Clinton is unveiling a lengthy list of Georgia Democratic Party leaders backing her campaign for the presidency.
Shared first with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the list shows how Clinton has captured the support of most of the biggest names in Georgia Democratic politics, starting with a civil rights hero, U.S. Rep. John Lewis. Clinton backers include Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, former Ambassador to the U.N. Andrew Young, state Democratic Party Chairman DuBose Porter and a slew of legislative leaders, including House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson.
The push comes as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to challenge Clinton atop the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote in next year’s primary, and Vice President Joe Biden considers jumping into the race.
The Democratic campaign is heating up, with the first presidential debate scheduled next week in Las Vegas and Clinton scheduled to testify later this month before a U.S. House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack.
“As our former Secretary of State, Senator from New York, and first Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton is the most qualified person to be President of the United States,” Lewis said in a statement.
“I know her heart. We need her leadership, not just here in America, but all over the world. She is tireless in her advocacy for those who have been left out and left behind. She is ready to be President on day one. Hillary Clinton has my wholehearted endorsement, and I plan to work and campaign for her to see that she is elected the next President of the United States.”
Clinton’s Georgia “Leadership Council” is an evolving list, according to the campaign, and will help build her Peach State organization ahead of the state’s March 1 primary. The list includes nine of Georgia’s 13 “superdelegates,” party leaders whose votes at the Democratic National Convention are not necessarily tied to how the state votes in the primary. Superdelegates, though, can switch sides, as Lewis moved from Clinton to Barack Obama in 2008.
Among Georgia’s superdelegates who have not yet committed to Clinton: former President Jimmy Carter and U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany. But Carter’s grandson Jason, a former state senator who ran for governor last year, is backing Clinton.
In addition to Georgia, the Clinton campaign on Tuesday also released long lists of big-name supporters in Colorado, Minnesota and Virginia — all states voting March 1. Sanders, too, is playing the long game beyond early primary states, as the Vermont senator raised nearly as much money as Clinton did in the past three months — and appears to have spent far less, though the final numbers are not due in until next week.
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