Georgia's early voting surge fuels final campaign push
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Former President Barack Obama speaks as U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms listen onstage. Photo: Courtesy of Megan Varner/Getty Images
Republicans and Democrats are pulling out their respective heavyweights to galvanize supporters as Georgia enters the last day of early voting.
Why it matters: While Georgians have already shattered early voting records for midterms, candidates will spend the final days before the election crisscrossing the state to win over voters.
- As of Thursday afternoon, more than 2.3 million ballots had been cast early and in person across Georgia, surpassing the 2.28 million who voted early in 2022, according to the Secretary of State Election Data Hub.
Driving the news: Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris were both in Georgia this week as part of the Democratic Party's efforts to mobilize its base.
- Obama headlined a rally for Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms at the Arena at Southlake, in deep-blue Clayton County, a majority-Black county just south of Atlanta and home to the world's busiest airport.
- Harris joined Ossoff on Thursday at Clark Atlanta University, one of Atlanta's historically Black colleges and universities.
Zoom in: The audience at the 8,000-seat arena, which quickly reached capacity, was treated to a performance by the CAU's Mighty Marching Panthers.
- R&B artist Janelle Monae performed a few songs, including her anthem "Electric Lady" and her rendition of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and The Revolution.
- Bottoms and Ossoff spoke before Obama took the stage to a very energetic crowd.
What they're saying: Most of Obama's comments centered on President Trump and his handling of the war in Iran (a conflict Obama said "nobody asked for and nobody voted for") and Trump's response to the increased price of gas, food and other necessities and utility bills.
- He also criticized Trump's attention to the construction projects at the White House and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's focus on the testosterone levels of male U.S. troops.
- "These are not serious people, and we are all paying the price for their lack of seriousness," Obama said.
- He also mocked the Trump's administration for its response to his jab likening the president's decorations to if "Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory."
- "They don't have solutions to actual problems, so they'd rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory," the president said.
The other side: Garrison Douglas, spokesperson for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, told the AJC in a statement that Obama was a "washed up" president who can't "cover up the fact that Keisha Lance Bottoms is a failed mayor who abandoned her city after making it less affordable and less safe."
- Jackson on Wednesday campaigned in southeast Georgia with current Gov. Brian Kemp and former Gov. Sonny Perdue.
- "I believe in a Georgia where you keep more of what you earn, schools are strong, kids are reading, communities are safe, police are supported, and no one is left behind," he said in a post on X. "That's building on Governor Kemp's legacy."
What we're watching: How long the lines on Election Day will be.