Rebecca Etter
,
Rahul Bali
| WABE
August 3rd, 2024
Former President Donald Trump returned to Georgia Saturday with his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The campaign rally was held at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in Downtown Atlanta, the same venue where Vice President Kamala Harris held her rally just four days earlier.
The rallies, held days apart in the same venue, offered a unique opportunity to compare the two campaigns competing for the White House.
This was Trump’s fourth visit to Georgia this year and the first since Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden decided to step down.
Once Trump took the stage, he immediately began disparaging the rally for Harris days before, saying there were “many empty seats” and claiming people were only there for the entertainment. He then expressed his upset with Georgia State University, claiming they were refusing to let in thousands of supporters on Saturday.
Noticeably absent from the rally was Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. A senior aide told WABE on Friday that Kemp would not be attending due to prior commitments. While supporters waited for Trump to take the stage, Kemp and Trump began slugging it out on social media.
Kemp’s relationship with Trump soured after the 2020 election when he disagreed with Trump’s claims that Georgia was stolen from him.
Trump made clear the Georgia Republicans he finds loyal, praising Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rick Allen. He also acknowledged three conservative-appointed election board members, Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston, and Janelle King, who say they don’t accept that Biden won Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.
Then, Trump called out Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Kemp for not helping him subvert the election results in Georgia, going so far as to say, “They want us to lose.”
Trump also took credit for Kemp’s success in the 2018 gubernatorial election, saying Kemp couldn’t have won without his endorsement. However, in 2022, Kemp handily beat the Trump-backed opponent, former Sen. David Perdue, who was also in attendance.
Vance spoke before Trump and addressed the Democrat’s recent strategy of referring to Trump’s campaign as “weird.”
“And I think it’s especially weird when Kamala Harris comes to Atlanta — I believe, came here to this arena — Kamala Harris comes to Atlanta and talks with a fake southern accent even though she grew up in Canada. You can’t make it up. That’s pretty weird,” he said.
Vance closed out his speech by saying, “In just a few months, I believe this state of Georgia is going to lead a great American restoration” by reelecting Trump.
