Kamala Harris will tap Stacey Abrams to help her win the state of Georgia, having the failed gubernatorial candidate join her at a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Abrams, who is a fervent defender of the vice president, will be at Harris’ side alongside the state’s Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Singer Megan Thee Stallion will also join Harris at her rally, the campaign announced.
‘ATL HOTTIES SEE YOU TOMORROW,’ the singer wrote on her instagram.
Tuesday marks Harris’ first appearance in the battleground state since she announced her presidential campaign and her 15th visit since becoming vice president.
Georgia is seen as a critical win for Harris in the 2024 race, part of a group of sunbelt states Democrats believe she can carry in addition to the Midwest states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan that make up the so-called ‘blue wall.’
‘We have multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes. The Vice President is strong in both the blue wall and in the Sun Belt and we are running hard in both,’ Harris’ battleground states director Dan Kanninen said on a call with reporters on Monday.
Kamala Harris will tap Stacey Abrams to help her win Georgia
Abrams has been a vocal defender of Harris in the past. The two African American women have endorsed each others’ campaigns and supported each other in their respective races.
She also helped Joe Biden win the state in the 2020 election, giving Democrats their first win there since Bill Clinton.
One point that Abrams has made repeatedly is that Harris would not receive the criticism she has gotten if she were a white male.
‘We will always question the person behind the person, but we cannot ignore the misogyny and racism remain very prevalent in our politics,’ Abrams told MSNBC late last year.
‘For those behaviors that don’t rise to either misogyny or racism, there’s also just a difference. Our expectations are set for the traditional white male vice president. It’s what it’s always been. We are not always great with new,’ she noted.
‘But more importantly, I know if you filter through the critiques, if you think about how she is castigated, it is inextricably linked to race and gender.’
Abrams’ defense came at a time when Harris, the first black and female vice president, was seeing record low approval ratings.
Her services will likely be needed again as the presidential campaign continues and Donald Trump’s campaign ratches up its attacks.
Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance has increased his efforts to frame Harris as a far-left politician out of touch with the American mainstream.
Vance on Sunday said that Harris has ‘got a little bit of a bump from her introduction’ but predicted it would soon dissipate.
‘Look, the people are going to learn her record,’ Vance said. ‘They’re going to learn that she’s a radical. They’re going to learn that she’s basically a San Francisco liberal who wants to take San Francisco policies to the entire country.’
Trump himself has called Harris a ‘crazy liberal.’
Stacey Abrams is a fervent defender of the vice president
Meanwhile, Georgia played a crucial role in the last presidential election, and it is expected to be just as significant this November. According to several polls released last week, it’s a virtual toss-up between Harris and Trump.
Polls showed Joe Biden trailed Trump significantly in the state but Harris does much better against the former president.
She outperforms Biden among young people, Black voters, and Hispanic voters, key demographics that could decide swing states like Georgia and Arizona.
Biden only won the state by some 12,000 votes in 2020, a win heavily contested by Trump, who is currently in the midst of an election interference case in the state
Georgia is a top focus with less than 100 days to go before the election.
The Harris campaign noted it has 24 offices open in the state nd 170 staffers on the ground there.
‘In Georgia, we’re running the largest in state operation of any Democratic presidential campaign cycle ever,’ campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.
While in the state Harris plans to attack Trump for his ties to Project 2025 – an initiative from the Heritage Foundation that promotes conservative polices – and for his position on abortion rights.
And while Harris focuses on Georgia, Trump will be focused on breaking the Democrats’ blue wall.
He’s holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday – his first visit back to the state since the assassination attempt on him in late June.
Harris had surrogates in Pennsylvania on Monday to counter Trump – the state’s Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmore. Both Democrats have been names as possible Harris running mates.
The Harris campaign also has had surrogates Georgia, as she weighs who to pick as her number two.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is reported to be a potential running mate, was in in the state on Sunday.
The Harris campaign is vetting him along with several other candidates, including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Govs. Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
She is expected to choose her vice presidential candidate by Aug. 7.
Harris’ campaign noted it’s held some 2,300 organizing events in battleground states this weekend as several high-profile Democrats on her potential VP list stumped for her.
JD Vance has tried to paint Kamala Harris as an out-of-touch liberal
With less than 100 days to go until Election Day, the Harris campaign is touting its fundraising and infrastructure, arguing it is well-positioned to beat Trump in November.
The campaign has taken in $200 million since Harris emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week.
Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts.
‘The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,’ Tyler wrote in a memo.
