Vice President Kamala Harris is holding a rally in the battleground state of Georgia on July 30 as her first official campaign stop since launching her bid for the White House.
As Georgia has been historically labeled as a red state but voted blue in the 2020 presidential election, campaign leaders feel Harris has a chance to do it again in November 2024.
“The vice president is energizing and mobilizing our base,” Harris campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen said. “Having a candidate who can mobilize our key Biden-Harris coalition, talking about the issues that resonate with Georgians … make that state in play.”
Since taking office, this visit will be the vice president’s 15th trip to the Peachtree State. The rally, held in Atlanta, is expected to have some heavy hitters making
appearances, including Democratic state Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Grammy Award-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion is also expected to give a special performance.Harris will then hold a meeting with local leaders and reproductive rights advocates
.Her trip to Atlanta comes after a highly successful first week of campaigning. Less than a week after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed his vice president for the job, Harris raised more than $200 million and garnered more than 170,000 new volunteers who want to support her.
The state of Georgia was a turning point in Biden securing the Oval Office in 2020, voting blue for the first time since 1992. Voting efforts in majority Black communities, including Atlanta, with years of organizing tactics from Abrams, helped Biden win by 12,000 votes. Harris’ campaign is looking to repeat the same success.
However, while fundraising has been impressive, Kanninen said they aren’t getting comfortable. “I continue to be very clear with our partners and with our own staff. This campaign will not get comfortable. We jumped in with just 100 days ago against an opponent who has shown he’s willing to do anything to win,” he said.
“This is going to be an incredibly close race, just like it was in 2020. But just like four years ago, we are going to win this thing.”
The campaign expects a competitive election between Trump and Harris as it looks at the state’s infrastructure as an advantage. Communications Director Michael Tyler wants things to be “close.” “That’s why we have the team and the operation in place to make sure that we can turn out every single Harris voter in the state of Georgia,” Tyler said.
While the Metro Atlanta area prepares for Harris’s arrival, other Harris supporters, like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, are working with volunteers in rural areas of Georgia to encourage them in the quest to gather blue support in the polls. According to USA Today, Beshear, a potential running mate for Harris, spoke to volunteers in Forsyth County — a majority red-leaning county — to speak of his victories. In 2019, the Democratic leader won his first gubernatorial race in his deep-red home state by less than half a percentage point and then again in 2023 by five percentage points, all thanks to hard work. “People ask me, and I’m sure they ask you too: How do you do it? How do we win?” he told volunteers at the new campaign office while standing on the back of a red pickup truck.
“We win by staying true to our values of compassion, of empathy, of doing right by our neighbors… We win by caring and fighting for every single vote in every single county. This is not my first speech on the back of a pickup truck.”
More than 170 coordinated staff and 24 offices will be opening across Georgia. Three of them opened doors toward the end of July 2024.