In their first appearance on the campaign trail together, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama made an economic-centered pitch to Georgia voters, appealing particularly to black men.
Two weeks before the election, Harris and Obama addressed a crowd of 20,000 people at James R. Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, Georgia, after a performance from Bruce Springsteen and speeches from prominent black men Tyler Perry, Samuel L. Jackson, and Spike Lee.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” Harris said Thursday. “Predators, fraudsters, and repeat offenders. I took them all on and I won. Well, Georgia, in 12 days it is Donald Trump’s turn.”
Harris underscored her middle-class background, comparing it to how her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, “had $400 million served to him on a silver platter and still managed to file for bankruptcy six times.”
“He talks about being a good businessman,” she said. “Come on.”
Harris also emphasized the temperament case against Trump through former White House chief of staff John Kelly’s comments to the New York Times and the Atlantic about the former president’s affinity for Adolf Hitler and fascism.
“This is not 2016 or 2020,” the vice president said. “Donald Trump has become more confused, more unstable, and more angry. We just learned from his chief of staff that he praised Hitler. If he wins, there will no longer be anyone there to control him.”
“Just imagine the Oval Office in three months,” she added. “Picture it in your mind. … It’s either Donald Trump in there stewing, stewing over his enemies list, or me working for you, checking off my to-do list.”
Obama similarly referenced weak consumer confidence, contending that he understood “why people are looking to shake things up” before saying, “There is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”
Criticizing Trump for his McDonald’s photo op and his response to Hurricane Helene, Obama reclaimed credit for his and President Joe Biden‘s own respective stimulus relief. Trump and Biden passed pandemic-era packages in 2020 and 2021 after Obama’s economic counterpart in 2009. Trump, however, made sure his name went out on the stimulus checks, a branding exercise that resonated with black voters.
“Let me make sure y’all understand this: Joe Biden sent you a check during the pandemic, just like I gave people relief during the Great Recession,” he said. “The thing is, we didn’t put our name on it because it wasn’t about feeding our egos.”
Harris reflected on the significance of having Obama’s support at the start of her remarks and earlier Thursday during a press conference with reporters. Harris campaigned for the former president during his 2008 bid.
“I’m very honored to have the support of former President Obama as he’s been on the campaign trail and has been really wonderful and extraordinary in terms of the time and effort that he’s putting into our campaign and people like Bruce Springsteen to have their support,” she told reporters in Philadelphia.
Back in Atlanta’s suburbs, Springsteen performed The Promised Land, Land of Hope and Dreams, and Dancing in the Dark, telling the crowd he is supporting the vice president and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) because he wants a commander in chief “who reveres the Constitution,” “does not threaten but wants to protect and guide our great democracy,” and “believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.”
“Trump is running to be an American tyrant,” he said. “He does not understand this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply American.”
The rally launches the Harris campaign’s “When We Vote We Win” concert series, with the next event in Houston on Friday with hometown music icon Beyonce. Obama and Springsteen are scheduled to be in Philadelphia on Monday.
The Harris campaign is hoping Springsteen, for example, can help the vice president appeal to blue-collar men.
Earlier during the rally, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) mentioned the importance of black men to this election, dismissing the likelihood that “significant numbers of black men are going to vote for the likes of Donald Trump.”
“After all, we know who Donald Trump is. We’re not confused,” Warnock said. “We know that this is a man who was held accountable by the Justice Department because he wouldn’t even rent apartments to black people.”
Obama was criticized last week for suggesting to campaign field staffers in Pittsburgh that Harris’s weakness with the demographic may be because of sexism.
Black men are particularly critical in Georgia. In 2020, Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the Peach State since 1992 because of his support among black voters and Republicans who do not like Trump. He won by 12,000 votes. Four years later, Trump has an average 2 percentage point lead over Harris before the Nov. 5 election, according to RealClearPolitics.
The Trump campaign prebutted the rally, describing it as “a desperate, last-ditch effort to salvage [Harris’s] spiraling campaign.”
“Relying on celebrities is nothing new for the party of Hollywood elites — and as voters realize the depths of Kamala’s incompetence and radicalism, she needs an added draw,” Trump campaign spokesman Jake Schneider told reporters. “But it’s certainly an indication of just how far out of touch Democrats are with the working class.”
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After the rally, the Trump campaign also mocked Harris after video captured people leaving the event early.
“WOW. Looks like everyone at the concert tonight LEFT once Kamala took the stage,” the campaign wrote on social media.
WOW. Looks like everyone at the concert tonight LEFT once Kamala took the stage.
pic.twitter.com/Om0WtYJESi
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 25, 2024
