As President Donald Trump’s poll numbers slide, Georgia Democrats sense a chance to land a devastating blow to his fortunes in a state long considered a GOP lock. And they want to use the Democratic National Convention this week to press their case.

Over the next week, Georgia Democrats will pressure Biden’s campaign to live up to running mate Kamala Harris’ challenge to deliver “more than a victory” in November by competing in a state that Republicans have carried in every White House vote since 1996.

It’s an argument championed by two of Biden’s finalists to join his ticket — Stacey Abrams and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms — and others who cast Trump’s struggles to combat the coronavirus as the latest symptom of a failed administration.

And it comes ahead of a political blitz, starting with the Democrats and then followed by the Republican National Convention a week later, where Biden and Trump will try to wrest the nation’s attention from the pandemic and other crises and toward a presidential race in its final bumpy days.

“Georgia is winnable. We’re a swing state,” said state Rep. William Boddie, one of the top Democrats in the Georgia House. “The Biden campaign is putting boots on the ground here, and we’re very happy with that. But I’m confident they’re about to do a lot more.”

Biden has only recently begun expanding his efforts in Georgia, where Democrats have steadily closed an electoral gap with Republicans. He hired a slate of high-profile operatives in July with a focus on flipping the state, and this month the candidate began airing his first TV ads in Georgia.

Though some Democrats are warning Biden not to be swayed by the overconfidence that doomed Hillary Clinton in 2016, others see a chance at a political realignment that could redraw a battleground map to also include other once-solid GOP states.

They argue that winning Georgia will reap enormous political dividends, starting with a down-ticket tsunami that could swamp Republicans running in two U.S. Senate races and a sweep of competitive congressional and state legislative districts.

Trump and his aides exude confidence about keeping Georgia in Republican hands. His campaign has built an extensive network of staffers and volunteers in Georgia and began airing radio ads in June — an extraordinarily early time for a state that was largely an afterthought in the presidential race four years ago.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien recalled the Republican hand-wringing over Georgia in 2016, when Trump carried the state by 5 percentage points without heavily investing here. This time, he said, the campaign is spending early to help U.S. Sen. David Perdue and other Republicans on the ballot.

“We feel confident in our campaign. There are other candidates on the ballot in Georgia, and we want to make sure we bring them across the finish line with us,” he said. “I invite the Democrats to spend — and spend heavily — in Georgia.”

Other Republicans, however, are mindful of the 2018 midterm when Abrams nearly won the race for governor and Democrats carved a blue streak through Atlanta’s suburbs.

House Speaker David Ralston said the GOP must focus on a “positive” agenda dealing with the economy and public safety in the closing months of the race.

“I’ve always said this is going to be a very competitive election cycle,” said Ralston, who is leading efforts to keep his chamber under Republican control.

“I don’t get antsy. I work. I channel my energy into complete focus on keeping the Republican majority in the House,” he said. “But we’re going to have some really contested, competitive races here, down to the bottom of the ticket. It’s just where we are in the state now.”

‘Dead heat'

The convention that begins Monday offers Democrats a chance to rally behind Biden and Harris, the U.S. senator from California who becomes the first woman of color on a major party’s ticket, before the heated homestretch of the presidential race.

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal Constitution

It promises to be a more muted affair, however, because the pandemic has forced both Democratic and Republican conventions to be held virtually. Georgia delegates aren’t planning on heading to Milwaukee — and neither is Biden, who will be delivering his keynote from afar.

The speaking slate features a star-studded lineup of Democratic leaders — including two Georgians who seem certain to bring a local twist to the prime-time affair. Former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates will speak Tuesday, and Bottoms delivers her address Thursday.

Georgia is grabbing a share of the spotlight as polls show a deadlocked race, and some suggest deeper trouble for Trump’s campaign. A CBS/YouGov poll released this month showed white voters, Trump’s most reliable pillar of electoral support, have steadily bolted for Biden’s camp.

Even as his poll numbers suffer, Trump’s most prominent supporters haven’t shied away from him. While Perdue’s initial rounds of TV ads skirted mention of the president, he was first in line to appear with Trump during his June visit to the state and has embraced his every policy.

And U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins — bitter rivals in the November special election — have relentlessly jockeyed for Trump’s attention and support, even maneuvering to outflank each other whenever the president or Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Georgia.

Democrats hope this week’s congressional runoff victory by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right contender who believes in the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, helps their case. They plan to tie Greene to other Republicans on the ticket.

But many Democratic officials and strategists say the party need look no further than Trump for inspiration.

“Biden is on course in Georgia. He’ll pick up some momentum. But Trump is the campaign manager for Biden. He’s his best advocate,” said state Rep. Al Williams, a Midway Democrat. “It’s why we’re in a dead heat here.”

Biden and his campaign acknowledge the tension. Every dollar devoted to Georgia is one less that goes to other, perhaps more competitive, states that helped Trump clinch in 2016. At a Georgia-centric virtual fundraiser this month, Biden said many Democrats figure Georgia is a “real pipe dream” not worth contesting.

“But if we come close in Georgia, we probably will help elect a couple Democratic senators. We elect a congressman. We elect up and down the line,” he said. “And we have to build our bench. We have to build the Democratic Party from the ground up. In many places we haven’t paid enough attention to that.”

A few days later, Trump was delivering remarks at a White House press conference when, unprompted, he brought up his chances against Biden in the Peach State.

“I’ll win Georgia,” he said. “By a lot.”