ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris told a cheering, boisterous, packed arena on Tuesday that the next few months would be a serious fight and acknowledged the Democrats were right now the underdogs — but assured the crowd they would win in November.
“We have a fight in front of us,” the likely nominee said. “The momentum in this race is shifting. And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it.”
Harris held what is her largest rally yet at the Georgia State Convocation Center Tuesday evening.
Since Harris became the presumptive nominee in Georgia, the latest polls have her essentially tied with former President Donald Trump in Georgia.
Democrats are expressing new hopes of an expanded electoral map and welcoming the vice president to the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 with a show of political force intended to signal a new landscape against Trump.
The roughly 8,000-capacity basketball arena at Georgia State University was filled to its rafters with thousands of voters waving signs, dancing to the Harris campaign soundtrack and celebrating.
“This is like Barack Obama 2008 on steroids for me,” said Mildred Hobson Doss, a 59-year-old who came downtown from suburban Lilburn. “I would have voted for President Biden again. But we are ready.”
Harris is hoping the rally, which featured a performance by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, will help affirm her campaign’s momentum.
Former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jason Carter does too.
“I think this last week has been one of the greatest energizing weeks that I’ve ever seen in a presidential race,” Carter said.
The grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and a veteran of numerous political campaigns, Carter believes Harris’ presence in Georgia indicates the state’s significance in the upcoming election.
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He noted the establishment of 24 new field offices and the enlistment of 7,000 volunteers in just the past week as signs of increased momentum.
“I think she’s here to talk to Georgians. I think this election in many ways still has a very huge potential to be decided in Georgia,” Carter said.
Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones also acknowledged Georgia’s pivotal role.
“It’s no surprise that Georgia is an important state. I think the White House runs through Georgia,” Jones said.
Jones believes the race will be driven by issues like the economy rather than personalities.
“I think the economy is going to do all the talking in this election cycle,” Jones said. “I don’t think it’s going to be about personalities or how great the media, the national media tries to portray Kamala Harris. I think it’s going to come down to the economy.”
Trump is not taking chances. Earlier Tuesday, the former president announced that he would come to Atlanta on Saturday for a rally in the same Georgia State arena.
Republican consultant Brian Robinson said Harris still has plenty of liabilities, including the progressive positions she took in her failed 2020 primary campaign and her various rhetorical stumbles. But he said Harris so far in this campaign has been “in command,” and if that continues, “we have a new ballgame and she will be competitive in Georgia.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed Harris as “just as weak, failed and incompetent as Joe Biden” and said the vice president would have to explain her support of Biden administration policies that “hurt working families in Georgia over the past four years.”
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