Obama to headline Atlanta rally for Bottoms and Ossoff
Former President Barack Obama will headline an Oct. 28 rally in Atlanta for U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms, bringing one of the party’s biggest political draws to Georgia for a final push to mobilize voters.
The rally comes near the end of Georgia’s three-week early voting period and just days before the Nov. 3 election, as both parties turn to their political heavyweights to energize supporters and bank votes.
Ossoff is the favorite over U.S. Rep. Mike Collins in the U.S. Senate contest, but the stakes are particularly high for Bottoms, who is locked in a tight race for governor against Republican billionaire Rick Jackson.
Democrats are counting on Ossoff’s strength to help lift the rest of the ticket, and Obama’s visit is another part of that strategy.
The exact time and location of the evening rally haven’t been announced, but an advisory from organizers says Obama will “mobilize Georgians to turn out and vote early for Ossoff, Bottoms and Democrats up and down the ballot.”
Two days later, former Vice President Kamala Harris will headline an Oct. 30 dinner hosted by the Fulton County Democrats, as the former presidential nominee makes the rounds in battleground states.
Republicans are mounting their own all-hands-on-deck effort.
After spending much of the general election distancing himself from President Donald Trump, Jackson joined him at a Friday rally in Dalton.
Collins, meanwhile, has staked his uphill Senate campaign on mobilizing the same MAGA loyalists who powered Trump’s narrow 2024 victory in Georgia.
Trump is scheduled to return to Georgia on Oct. 24 for another rally in Macon, setting up a final stretch in which the two parties’ biggest political stars will campaign just days apart to fire up their voters.
Obama has already stepped up his involvement in Georgia’s elections, airing radio ads and digital spots urging Democrats to back Bottoms and Ossoff.
But Democrats hope his in-person appearance will deliver a bigger jolt, particularly among Black voters who form the backbone of the party’s coalition.
The former president is no stranger to late-stage campaign rallies in Georgia. Obama rallied thousands of supporters for Stacey Abrams and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in October 2022, urging Democrats to mobilize in the final days of a tough election.
Two years later, he joined Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for a star-studded metro Atlanta rally featuring Bruce Springsteen.
And Obama is preparing to campaign for Democrats in Michigan and Ohio later this month, hoping to turbocharge turnout ahead of an election that could reshape the balance of power in Washington.