Georgia presidential primary: Trump, Biden rematch likely as voters head to polls
ATLANTA - Voters across Georgia headed to the polls on Tuesday to choose the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.
With last week's Super Tuesday results, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are positioned for an all-but-certain rematch this November.
The campaigns have now turned their attention to the Peach State's crucial 16 electoral votes.
Georgia was a pivotal 2020 battleground, and both parties are preparing for another closely contested race in the state this year.
Officials with the Secretary of State held a press conference late Tuesday morning, saying that voting has gotten off to a pretty good start in Georgia with no major problems reported.
At least one voting location will stay open until 7:20 p.m., according to Superior Court for Cobb County. Voting at the Worship Wonders Church at 1887 Powder Springs Road in Marietta will remain open later because the election team had difficulty getting into the building in time to open at 7 a.m.
Voters can find their assigned polling place on the Georgia Secretary of State's website.
WATCH: TRUMP HOSTS LAKEN RILEY'S FAMILY AT ROME RALLY, BIDEN INTERRUPTED BY PROTESTER IN ATLANTA
Biden, Trump hold dueling Georgia rallies
Over the weekend, Biden and Trump held dueling rallies, pushing to get out the vote and acknowledging that the state is key to deciding who is voted into the Oval Office.
Biden opened his speech at a rally in Atlanta noting that Trump was across the state with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand lawmaker who has gone from the fringes of her party to the fore. "It can tell you a lot about a person who he keeps company with," Biden said to applause. Biden noted that Trump had hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — who has rolled back democracy in his country — at his Florida club the day before.
"When he says he wants to be a dictator, I believe him," Biden said of Trump. "Our freedoms are literally on the ballot this November."
MORE: Trump, Biden acknowledge Georgia is 'key' to White House ahead of Tuesday primary
Trump, meanwhile, hammered Biden on the border and blamed him for the death of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley last month. An immigrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally has been arrested and charged with her murder. He hosted Riley’s family at his rally in Rome, Greene’s hometown.
"Laken Riley would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the United States and set loose thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals," Trump said.
Georgia becomes pivotal swing state
The intensity of the rhetoric at the rallies previewed a grueling eight months of campaigning ahead in the state.
"We’re a true battleground state now," said U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, an Atlanta Democrat who doubles as state party chairwoman.
Once a Republican stronghold, Georgia is now so competitive that neither party can agree on how to describe today’s divide. A "52-48 state," said Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whose party controls state government. "We’re not blue, we’re not red," Williams countered, but "periwinkle," a claim she supports with Biden’s 2020 win and the two Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Georgia sent to Washington.
Voters leave the Park Tavern polling location after casting their ballots in the Georgia primary election on May 24, 2022 in Atlanta, (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
There is agreement, at least, that Biden and Trump each have a path to victory — and plenty of obstacles along the way.
"Biden’s numbers are in the tank for a lot of good reasons, and we can certainly talk about that. And so, it makes it where Trump absolutely can win the race," Kemp said at a recent forum sponsored by Punchbowl News. "I also think he could lose the race. I think it’s going to be a lot tougher than people realize."
Biden’s margin was about a quarter of a percentage point in 2020. Warnock won his 2022 Senate runoff by 3 points. Kemp was elected in 2018 by 1.5 percentage points but expanded his 2022 reelection margin to 7.5 points, a blowout in a battleground state.
In each of those elections, Democrats held wide advantages in the core of metro Atlanta, where Biden will be Saturday. Democrats also performed well in Columbus and Savannah and a handful of rural, majority-Black counties. But Republicans dominated in other rural areas, small towns and the smallest cities — like Rome.
Where Biden and Trump stand with delegates
Several other states are holding primary contests on Tuesday, including Washington State, Mississippi, and Hawaii.
Biden enters Tuesday's primaries with 1,866 pledged delegates - 102 short of the number he needs to formally become the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Trump is on pace to reach his magic number as well.
He currently stands at 1,075 pledged delegates out of the 1,215 needed to secure the nomination.
Both candidates are expected to pass that threshold in the near future.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.