Abrams noticeably absent from Biden's Atlanta voting push

ATLANTA (AP) — There was a prominent Atlanta resident missing on Tuesday when President Joe Biden swung through the city to press for voting rights protections: Stacey Abrams.

During a day that was shrouded in the city's legacy as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, the absence of one of the nation's most prominent voting rights activists created something of an awkward moment.

For Biden, it was an unexpected snub at a time when he faces mounting vulnerabilities, including skepticism from Black voters who elected him and now question his dedication to their priorities. And for Abrams, who once openly lobbied Biden to pick her as his vice president, her absence left the impression that she was now distancing herself from the leader of her party as she campaigns for Georgia governor.

Biden and Abrams quickly sought to smooth over any damage. After an aide said late Monday that an unspecified scheduling conflict would prevent her from attending Biden's event, Abrams tweeted a welcome to Biden, saying the “fight for voting rights takes persistence” and thanking him “for refusing to relent until the work is finished.” And as he left the White House on Tuesday, Biden said he spoke to Abrams earlier in the day and that “we're all on the same page.”

“We have a great relationship," Biden said. “We got our scheduling mixed up."

Still, the moment speaks to a broader question Democrats across the country are facing at the outset of a critical election year: whether to appear alongside a president whose popularity is waning. That calculation is especially precarious for Abrams, who is running for governor in a state that was once a Republican stronghold but is now almost evenly split between the parties.

Biden in 2020 became the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992,...