ATLANTA– Former President Donald Trump returns to Georgia on Saturday, which he lost four years ago, to campaign in a state that is again seen as a promising prospect by both Democrats and Republicans.
Trump’s 5 p.m. EDT event with his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, comes just days after Vice President Kamala Harris thousands of people gathered in the same basketball arena at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Both sides focus on Georgia, a Battlefield of the Sun Belt that just two weeks ago the Democrats had indicated that they would step aside in favor of a greater emphasis on the The “Blue Wall” States of the MidwestPresident Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign and endorse Harris fueled Democrats’ hopes for a larger electoral system.
“The momentum in this race is shifting,” Harris said told a cheering, exuberant crowd on Tuesday. “And there are signs that Donald Trump is feeling it.”
Biden defeated Trump in the state by 11,779 votes in 2020. Trump put under pressure Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will “find” enough votes to change the outcome. Trump was later indicted in Georgia for his attempts to overturn the election, but the case remains on hold until the courts decide or whether the Fulton County District Attorney can continue the case to continue it.
In announcing Saturday’s rally, the Trump campaign accused Harris of costing Georgians money through inflation and higher gas prices, which have risen from pandemic lows toward the end of the Trump administration. The campaign also noted the case of Laken Riley, a nursing student from the state who was killed while jogging in a park on Feb. 22. A Venezuelan citizen has been accused for murdering her.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly called Harris the current administration’s “border czar,” a reference to her assignment was to lead the White House efforts about migration.
But in recent days, Trump has false attacks on Harris’ race made and suggested she misled voters about her identity. Harris has publicly stated for years that she is Black and Indian-American.
At her rally in Atlanta, Harris called Trump and Vance “just weird” — a lane full of messages has recently been seized upon by many other Democrats — and Trump has been mocked for wavering on whether to appear for their upcoming debate, currently scheduled for September 10 on ABC.
Earlier he said he would debate HarrisTrump has recently questioned the value of a meeting, calling the host network ABC News “fake news” and saying he will “probably” debate Harris but that he “can also make an argument for not doing so.”
The fact that both Harris and Trump are focusing their resources on Georgia underscores the state’s renewed importance to both parties in November. By going to Atlanta, Trump is tapping into the state’s largest media market, including suburbs and exurbs that have traditionally been Republican strongholds but have become more competitive as they have diversified and grown in population.
In a strategy memo released after Biden left the race, Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon — who filled the same role as Biden — reaffirmed the importance of winning the traditional Democratic trio of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but also argued that Harris’ position at the top of the ticket “opens up additional voters to persuade” and described them as “disproportionately black, Latino and under 30” in places like Georgia.
Next week, Harris, along with her eventual running mate, plans to visit that Midwest trifecta, along with North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. She’ll make another stop in Georgia on Friday.
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Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina. Barrow can be reached at https://x.com/BillBarrowAP and Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.