VP Kamala Harris stumps in Atlanta presidential campaign rally at GSU

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Vice President Kamala Harris made the trip to Atlanta Tuesday for her sixth trip to Georgia this year, but the first as the Democratic Party’s presumptive White House nominee.

Her visit also comes three weeks before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where she would solidify her nomination, if not before. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion posted to Instagram that she will be in Atlanta and will make an appearance at Harris’ event.

WATCH THE RALLY BELOW:

Harris gave remarks shortly after 7 p.m.

“So Georgia, today I ask you: are you ready to get to work,” Harris said.

Harris landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday afternoon and will then head to the Georgia State University Convocation Center.

She was greeted by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts.

Before heading to GSU, Harris made a surprise stop at Paschal’s Restaurant and Bar in Atlanta.

The shake-up has voters and elected officials on both sides of the aisle paying close attention.

“Especially here in Georgia, we’ve seen enthusiasm increase dramatically,” said State Sen. Jason Esteves (D-Atlanta). “We have seen young people very excited. We’ve seen Black voters excited. We’ve seen voters all across the state really galvanized by this move by Vice President Harris run for president.”

Esteves, like many other Democrats, is encouraged by Harris’ swift presence in the state of Georgia after launching her budding campaign. Georgia, Esteves said, is still in play even if Republicans are touting a similar sense of confidence going into the final months of the campaign cycle.

“We are a true battleground state. Which means every presidential cycle, every election cycle, it’s going to be a horse race until the end,” he said.

“My home state of Georgia, I’ve lived here all my life, it’s hard to believe that they call it purple,” said U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome) at a Trump campaign event in Dunwoody to train poll watchers and vote canvassers. “I believe it’s red, and I believe it’s ruby red, and I think we’re going to prove that in November.”

Harris has previously appeared at events focused on topics like gun safety and economic opportunity. But this week’s visit will be her first President Joe Biden dropped a political bombshell two weeks ago when he announced he is ending his 2024 reelection bid.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has endorsed Harris, as have all Georgia Democrats in the state House and Senate and much of Georgia’s congressional delegation.

Less than 100 days remain before the general election that could decide whether Harris becomes the Oval Office’s first woman of color or if former President Donald Trump becomes only the second man ever elected to non-consecutive terms.

Harris’ trip to Atlanta comes as Biden is pushing for a series of U.S. Supreme Court reforms, including imposing term limits on the justices and requiring them to comply with binding ethics rules.

Several polls came out last week that all show a potential Harris-Trump race to be virtual tossups. An NPR/PBS News Marist Poll conducted July 22, 2024, shows Trump leading Harris 46% to 45%, with 9% of voters undecided. Marist’s one-day survey of 1,309 adults was conducted on July 22, 2024.

In a Reuters poll, Harris has opened a two-percentage-point lead over Trump, as she continues to consolidate the Democratic Party’s support after Biden’s stunning announcement of ending his 2024 reelection bid.

Those polls were released after Monday’s national poll by Quinnipiac University that also showed the potential matchup - Harris has not been officially chosen as the Democratic Party’s White House nominee - a dead heat.

The Quinnipiac poll, conducted from Friday, July 19-21, showed Trump receiving 49% support and Harris getting 47% support.

Biden’s withdrawal quickly became the nation’s hottest political topic and, for the moment, eclipsed the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, along with a completely unified GOP after the Republican National Convention.

The Democratic National Convention is set to convene in Chicago Aug. 19-22, 2024. Harris seems to have secured enough delegates to win the nomination; now, all eyes are focused on who she will choose as her vice presidential running mate.

Had Biden faced Trump, it would have been the first time two presidential candidates would have faced each other in consecutive elections since 1956, when GOP President Dwight D. Eisenhower again defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson in a repeat of the 1952 election.

Biden is the first sitting president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 to end his reelection bid. He is also the first presidential candidate in modern political history to withdraw from the race after winning virtually all of his party’s delegates.

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Also, for the first time since 1976, a general election presidential ballot will be without the names “Biden,” “Bush” or “Clinton” appearing on the ticket:

• Bush: George H.W. was Ronald Reagan’s vice presidential running mate in 1980 and 1984; he ran for president in 1988 and reelection in 1992, when he was defeated by ...
• William Jefferson Clinton - Clinton won the presidency in 1992 and won reelection in 1996. His wife, Hillary Clinton, was the Democratic White House nominee in 2016, when she was defeated by Trump.
• Joe Biden - Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate in 2008 and 2012. He ran for and won the presidency in 2020.

Trump’s selection of U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is the first time a so-called millennial has appeared on a presidential ticket.

If Trump wins in November, he will become the second former President - the first being Grover Cleveland in the 19th century - to be elected to the White House after losing his reelection bid.

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