JD Vance speaks in Atlanta. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance came to Atlanta Saturday to make the case for his running mate, former president Donald Trump, in the frenzied final stretch of a tight presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Zebulon Oct. 23. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Speaking to a friendly crowd near the state Capitol this weekend, the Ohio senator said a second Trump administration would mean fewer undocumented migrants crossing the border and lower prices on housing, gasoline and groceries.
“Because I’m the first millennial on a major party ticket, I talk to a lot of people in my generation, and a consistent theme that I hear from them is ‘our parents’ generation, they were able to afford to buy a home and our generation is not,’” Vance said. “And what a terrible failure of leadership that is, how much have the present leaders of this country failed our citizens when young people don’t feel like they can afford the American dream of homeownership?”
Vance’s visit comes in between two double-header Trump stops in the battleground state. The former president made stops south of Atlanta and in Duluth Wednesday, and is scheduled to hold events in north metro Atlanta and Georgia Tech next week.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris urged a crowd of supporters at a packed stadium in Clarkston Thursday night to vote early to bank their ballots in Georgia’s closely contested presidential election. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder
Team Harris is also crisscrossing the Peach State ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. Harris headlined a star-studded rally in Clarkston Thursday featuring former president Barack Obama.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is scheduled to rally Georgia supporters for his wife on Sunday, while former first lady Michelle Obama is set to lead a get out the vote rally in Atlanta Tuesday. That event is nonpartisan, but is expected to help Harris’ campaign more than Trump’s.
Vance’s event didn’t draw nearly as many supporters as Trump or Harris’ big rallies, but the mood was high. Borrowing a term used to describe the Harris ticket, Vance said the mood was joyful.
As the race nears its end, most Georgia polls show Trump with a slight advantage over Harris, but not an insurmountable one.
Vance said he is encouraged by early voting numbers in Republican-leaning counties across Georgia, saying he credits efforts from the GOP-led state Legislature for convincing Republican voters that early voting is safe.
When asked by reporters Saturday, the aspiring VP said the ticket will “of course” accept the election results from Georgia even if they lose, with an asterisk.
“We believe in two very important principles: one, yes, we are going to accept the results of the election, but two, we’re also going to fight to make sure that every legal
Sen. JD Vance speaks in Atlanta. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
ballot and only every legal ballot is counted,” he said.
Georgia was at the center of the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the election results in 2020, even after three vote tallies confirmed President Joe Biden’s narrow win and attempts to challenge the results in court were unsuccessful.
In a statement, the Harris campaign expressed confidence in the vice president’s chances.
“We are seeing incredible energy and enthusiasm on the ground, look no further than last night in Atlanta, where a record crowd of 23,000 came out in support of Vice President Harris’ vision for a New Way Forward,” said Matt Blakely, the Harris campaign’s Georgia rapid response director on Friday. “So as Trump and JD Vance parachute into our state, Georgians are ready to turn the page on Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda, which would raise costs on middle-class families by nearly $4,000 a year, gut access to health care, and slash Social Security and Medicare.”
More than 2.5 million people have already cast a ballot in Georgia, with another week of early voting left before the big day.