ATLANTA — As Vice President Kamala Harris’ convoy rolled through downtown Monday, it swung by the Atlanta University Center where generations of Black students have earned higher education degrees.

From there, she visited an innovation center for Black startups, traversed a busy Atlanta highway that has symbolized economic disparity in the city and then took part in a roundtable discussion about inequality.

Each stop of Harris’ visit to kick off a nationwide economic tour was carefully orchestrated to bring new attention to the Democrat’s efforts to mobilize Black voters, her party’s most loyal constituency.

What she did not talk about during the whirlwind visit was the ongoing protests over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, which has triggered nationwide demonstrations on campuses, including at Emory University and the University of Georgia, and threats of political retribution in November.

The visit, her 12th to Georgia since she took office, came as polls show both have work to do to shore up their support among Black Americans amid a tight rematch against former President Donald Trump. Harris told a crowd of mostly Black business leaders and elected officials she wanted to ensure the administration’s policies were reaching them.

“One of the compelling reasons for me to start this tour now is to ask all the leaders here for help in getting the word out about what’s available to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

“Because we are in the process of putting a lot of money in the streets of America for this growth,” she said. “And we want to make sure everyone has access to the opportunity to take advantage of the contracts and the work that has been generated by this policy push.”

It was a reference to the federal green energy and infrastructure laws that Biden signed into law, incentive-laden packages that have helped generate jobs in Georgia but also triggered criticism of “reckless” spending by Republicans.

Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon said Harris’ “word salad” can’t erase damage the administration has inflicted on the economy.

“Every day I’m talking to Georgians who are having to do more with less as the cost of basic necessities like food, housing, electricity and medicine spiral out of control due to the runaway inflation their policies have caused,” he said.

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