Thunderous applause and a chorus of cheers greeted former President Barack Obama when he took the stage in Morrow, Georgia Wednesday night.
The nation’s first Black President did his best to make the case to re-elect U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and make former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms the first Black woman governor in U.S. history during a more than 40-minute speech.
He and most of the candidates who spoke inside the Arena at SouthLake were laser focused on calling out Ossoff and Bottoms’ opponents — Republican Congressman Mike Collins and billionaire businessman Rick Jackson — for their close campaign ties with President Donald Trump.
Obama accused Trump of breaking his campaign promises to lower the cost of consumer goods and services, for putting tariffs on foreign goods and needlessly starting a war with Iran.
Trump’s policies have been blamed for surging prices on groceries, gas, and diesel fuel that has contributed to a 25% decline in Black wealth across the nation.
Obama also said Trump has spent much of his time focused on enriching himself, building his new ballroom and making additional renovations to the White House.
“The President of the United States is spending time super gluing gold medallions to the mantle in the Oval Office,” Obama told the energized crowd. “He is virtually doing arts and crafts while we are fighting a war and trying to deal with out-of-control prices.”
Georgia Republicans have struggled this fall with whether to distance themselves from Trump, whose approval ratings took a nose dive this year, while trying to rally their MAGA supporters.
Jackson and Collins recently appeared with Trump at rallies in Perry and Dalton, Georgia. It’s unclear whether GOP candidates’ alliance with the president will help or hurt them on Election Day.
Polls show Democrats in the Peach State have a chance to win majority of control of the state House for the first time in more than two decades and add Bottoms to the ranks of political trailblazers like Shirley Franklin, Carol Mosley Braun and Kamala Harris.
Obama’s visit to Morrow — located about 16 miles south of downtown Atlanta — is the latest in his battleground state tour across the country as he tries to boost Democrats’ chances of winning majority control of Congress.
The latest AJC poll shows Bottoms and Republican candidate Rick Jackson virtually tied in their gubernatorial matchup, despite a forecasted blue wave expected to help Democrats take control of the U.S. House and possibly the Senate.
During her own Wednesday night speech, Bottoms shared her plans to expand Medicaid, fund pre-k, restore reproductive rights and pause construction on data centers while also calling out Jackson’s allegiance to the current president, noting, “Slick Rick is running to be Trump’s favorite governor, and I’m running to be yours.”
Sen. Ossoff, who is polling eight points ahead of his scandal-plagued Republican rival, also took aim at Trump, calling the president’s team “the most corrupt administration in American history” and continued attacks on Collins, calling him a “bigot” who is unfit for office.
The evening’s lineup also included remarks from two other Black female Democratic candidates, Georgia secretary of state nominee Judge Penny Brown Reynolds and Georgia attorney general candidate Tanya Miller.
Sen. Raphael Warnock also laid out the midterm stakes.
“This is about the character of our country. This is about who we are,” Warnock told the crowd. “And there are demagogues at the highest levels of our country who are trying to divide us and distract us.”
Performances from the Clark Atlanta Mighty Marching Panthers and a mini concert from Grammy-nominated singer Janelle Monae, who closed with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” rocked the packed arena.
Republicans are projected to lose their 218 to 214 majority in the U.S. House, with Democrats favored to win most of the estimated 46-50 battleground districts across the nation.
Doing so would make it harder for Trump to advance a legislative agenda unpopular with Black voters, from cuts to SNAP and HUD rental assistance to caps on Medicaid and federal worker layoffs.
Early voting ends in Georgia on Friday Oct. 30. Polls will open again from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Read More:
