Obama, Springsteen help Kamala Harris begin to deliver election's closing message at metro Atlanta rally
With 12 days to go in the campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris was joined by former President Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, Tyler Perry and Spike Lee for a rally in Clarkston on Thursday night that drew more than 20,000 people, according to the campaign.
The rally on a high school football field marked Harris and Obama’s first joint appearance of the campaign, coming as more than 2 million people have voted early in Georgia and polls suggest a tight race in the state, one of seven that will likely determine the election.
“We’ve got a candidate to vote for in this election who will set a good example and do the right thing and leave this country better than she found it,” Obama said. “That is what this election is about.”
Harris fondly recalled traveling to Springfield, Illinois in 2007 for the launch of Obama’s presidential campaign and then knocking on doors for him in Iowa. At one point, the crowd chanted the iconic refrain from Obama’s campaigns, “Yes we can.”
Nearly a decade since leaving office, Democratic campaigns continue to deploy Obama for the closing pitch in the most closely contested states. A party elder whose ability to fire up a crowd is probably unmatched in the party, Democrats also hope to retain and expand the coalition of young voters, voters of color, women and suburban voters who propelled him to the White House in 2008.
Obama campaigned in Georgia twice during the 2022 midterms. That October, he rallied for Democrats including Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock, returning in December ahead of Warnock’s runoff against Republican Herschel Walker.
During her speech, which mostly followed her remarks at a rally in Atlanta last Saturday, Harris upbraided Trump for allegedly praising Adolf Hitler. Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly recounted the comments in an interview with The New York Times this week. Trump has denied the allegation.
“Take a moment to think about what that means,” Harris said. “Trump wished he had generals like Hitler’s, who would be loyal to Trump and not to America’s Constitution. This is not 2016 and it is not 2020.”
Trump campaigned in Gwinnett County on Wednesday, with a lineup packed with celebrities popular on the right, including Tucker Carlson and country singer Jason Aldean.
“A free concert and an Obama visit isn’t going to convince Georgians to vote for another four years of open borders, rising prices and disaster at home and abroad,” Morgan Ackley, Trump’s Georgia communications director, wrote in a statement.
At the Harris rally on Thursday, Springsteen performed three songs, “The Promised Land,” “Dancing in the Dark” and “Land of Hope and Dreams.”
“[Trump] does not understand this country, its history and what it means to be deeply American,” Springsteen told the crowd.
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