ATLANTA — A crowd of thousands of Georgia Democrats packed the Gateway Center Arena in College Park on Friday for a rally headlined by former President Barack Obama to rev up support for U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams and other candidates.
Obama’s visit was announced as polls show a tight race between Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker during the final stretch of early in-person voting. And Democrats hope he’ll give a boost to Abrams, who trails Gov. Brian Kemp in her gubernatorial rematch.
Obama has staked out a limited schedule of appearances this campaign cycle, and the Georgia visit is one of his only announced events. State Democrats hope his trip could drive up Black voter turnout and inject more energy into Georgia campaigns in the final stretch of the race.
Obama also offers Warnock an important ally as he continues to steer clear of President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings hover at 38% in Georgia.
Also Friday, while stumping in a rural southern Georgia town, Republican Senate hopeful and Warnock opponent Herschel Walker mocked his rival’s campaign rally, dismissing the visit by Obama as a useless distraction.
“Get Obama out of here,” Walker said at a rally in Waycross. “Unless he wants to come down here and run for Senate – and I can beat him, too.”
Polls show a neck-and-neck race between Walker and Warnock, and both are trying to rev up turnout heading into the final week of the in-person early voting period.
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