Ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris‘s campaign rally in Georgia on Tuesday, Georgia Democrats are working harder than ever. According to legislators, organizers, and voters, the candidate has increased the party’s chances of retaining control of the once ruby-red state of Georgia in November.
This will be Harris’ second rally since she chose to launch her own presidential campaign on July 21, the day President Joe Biden announced his resignation.
There is a tremendous amount of support for Kamala Harris. State Representative Sam Park remarked, “In my many years in Georgia politics, I haven’t seen anything like this.”
One of the biggest counties in the state, Gwinnett County, is home to Park’s district. Once a bastion of conservative support, it now leans heavily toward Democrats due to demographic changes and a varied voter base that includes Black, Latino, and Asian people.
One reason for Harris’s performance is her conviction that she can better connect with these voters; polls have already confirmed this conviction, indicating Harris’s early strength with voters of color and Gen Z voters in particular.
In a state that Democrats have narrowly won several times in the past, the question is whether Harris can capitalize on these advantages while also retaining the support of Republicans and independents who backed former President Donald Trump and candidates akin to him in 2020 and 2022.
Republican officials in the state believe that Harris won’t be able to win Georgia again because of their continued plans to attack Democrats on immigration and the economy.
Joe Biden’s inability to win means that there has effectively been a switch of Democratic contenders. Referring to Harris’ surge in popularity in the state as a “sugar high,” Marci McCarthy, chair of the DeKalb County Republican Party, stated that the failed policies stay the same and prioritize objectives that seem to put Americans last.
Still, in a recent document detailing its strategy for winning, the Harris team named Georgia and other Sun Belt states as major goals.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chair of the Harris for President campaign, noted, “Our several routes to 270 electoral votes will depend on the Vice President’s advantages with young, Black, and Latino voters.”
Longtime Biden buddy Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., stated: “Kamala Harris is appealing to a new generation.” Those who are attending the party for the first time find her exciting. She is proficient at social media usage. People connect with her because she speaks to them on their terms, and they find her persuasive.
Voters who are eager to elect the first woman of color to the presidency are also being energized by Harris’ abrupt rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.
“It feels like history for us,” stated 56-year-old Lithonia voter Tracy Starks. It’s excellent for females. For the Black community, it’s fantastic. It’s simply amazing. Additionally, I believe she will provide Trump with what he needs. This one isn’t ready for him.
Democrats have recruited 7,500 new volunteers, held close to 200 events, and established four new field offices around the state—one of which is in Gwinnett County—since Harris became office.
According to the report, the Harris campaign employs 170 people in total, spread over 24 campaign offices around the state.
The new field offices are located in counties that are generally regarded as comfortably Republican as well as Democratic strongholds, where Harris will need to maximize turnout.
According to Tyler, the Democratic presidential campaign is operating its biggest in-state effort in Georgia to date, with offices “positioned tactically throughout the whole state.”
One of the Democratic governors hoping to be Harris’ running mate, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, made an appearance at the campaign office opening in Forsyth County on Sunday. In 2020, Trump received 66% of the vote in this county. In Butts and Lowndes counties, among others, where the campaign is focusing, Trump won with comparable percentages.
“Every vote matters, not just in Georgia but all over the country. Red counties and blue counties do not exist. Vice President Harris will be speaking about American families who desire a better life in certain areas, Beshear said to reporters following his speech in Forsyth.
“By having the vice president move all of us forward and not trying to move something to the right or left, that is how you win votes in counties like this,” he declared.
That’s consistent with the counsel given by the late Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, a devoted Republican and ardent opponent of President Trump, in an opinion piece published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution praising Harris and referring to her as “the most effective means of avoiding another tarnished Trump presidency.”
Millions of people remain unsure, according to Duncan. Approximately one in five Republican voters supported former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican primary months after she withdrew from the race. “Harris needs to reject the urge to appease her base and speak to those voters, breaking with electoral tradition.”
Duncan is one of several Georgia Republicans who have denounced Trump for his attempts to rig the 2020 state election. This action led to an indictment in Fulton County and, according to the Harris campaign, left Georgia Republicans bitterly disappointed, possibly because they had had enough of Trump’s antics.
“Geoff Duncan demonstrates why Donald Trump and the ticket are having issues with Republicans in Georgia,” Dan Kanninen, the battleground state director for the Harris campaign, said. “I believe the state is in play because of the confluence of those two factors—having a candidate who can galvanize our important coalition and their issues with Republicans.”
Harris will make her sixth trip to Georgia this year, where campaign officials say she will “prosecute the case against Trump and his Project 2025, agenda” and “lay out her vision for an America where we move forward, not backward” during her rally in Atlanta.
Beyond her comments, though, her presence is reviving Democrats’ hopes ahead of a challenging presidential race.
Johnson declared, “The sky is blue and clear, and the sun is shining brightly outside.” “The path forward is now clear, and people are confident in the route we’re going. It makes them very happy to have Kamala Harris leading our ticket, someone we can all support.”