With turnout lagging, Republicans pull out all the stops in Georgia

PERRY — With early voting lagging in rural strongholds across the state, Georgia Republicans went all out Saturday to fire up their base ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

President Donald Trump used his rally to unveil plans for a massive $4.2 billion Audi plant in Middle Georgia as he stumped for GOP candidates up and down the ballot.

At a separate campaign event, Gov. Brian Kemp extended the suspension of state gasoline taxes through Nov. 30.

And Republican candidates argued that keeping the party in power would sustain Georgia’s economic momentum. Trump revived his promise of $5,000 payments if Republicans retain control of Congress.

The flurry of activity reflected the urgency facing Republicans as they scramble to boost turnout and hold off Democratic gains in razor-tight races for governor and other key offices.

“People are going to be very very surprised come Nov. 3,” Trump said to a crowd of several thousand at a Perry law enforcement training center. “People are psyched. They’re so psyched.”

Trump’s visit marked his second campaign rally in Georgia in eight days, both in deep-red parts of the state where GOP leaders are increasingly anxious about sluggish early voting.

But the president’s return also laid bare a problem facing GOP candidates who need his supporters to turn out without scaring swing voters who have played decisive roles in every recent Georgia election.

The Trump tightrope

The stakes are particularly high for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, who reversed course and attended the Perry rally after initially planning to skip it. Jackson took the stage during Trump’s speech to thank the president for putting together the “biggest economic deal in Georgia history” with the Audi project.

The switch highlights Jackson’s balancing act in a tight race against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.

After spending much of the GOP primary pledging to become Trump’s “favorite governor,” the billionaire is also emphasizing his alliance with Kemp, who remains far more popular than the president among Georgia voters.

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins has taken a different tack. The GOP Senate nominee has made his loyalty to Trump a centerpiece of his campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, even as polls show him badly trailing the incumbent.

On stage, Collins ripped into Ossoff, saying he “hates Trump more than he loves Georgia, and that’s shameful, y’all.”

Democrats countered by trying to make Trump’s record, from his tariffs to the unpopular war in Iran, a liability for Republicans up and down the ballot.

At an event Saturday in Avondale Estates with former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Ossoff seized on controversies surrounding Collins and people in his orbit who have promoted white nationalist views.

“It is disqualifying,” he said. “It is obscene. And in 10 days, we will end his political career. Ten days.”

‘Iffy ... but hopeful’

Trump’s freewheeling speech ricocheted between praising supporters in the crowd, touting Washington’s restaurant scene and mocking Ossoff as “Pee-wee Herman.”

He also said he would withhold federal help combating crime and other resources for Georgia if Democrats prevail in November.

And he said he didn’t “want to waste a lot of time” talking up Jackson, instead unleashing attacks on Bottoms and her record as Atlanta mayor.

“If Mike Collins and Rick Jackson aren’t elected, it will never ever come back,” Trump said of Atlanta. “It’s never going to come back. These people are, I sort of think, they’re stupid.”

Trump’s polarizing standing captures the problem facing Georgia Republicans. While a majority of voters disapprove of his job performance, he still commands 85% approval among likely GOP voters.

For Ken Burge, who drove to Perry from Buford, there was little doubt that Trump could help rally the GOP faithful. Burge said he was confident Saturday’s rally would help “wake up” Republican voters who have yet to cast ballots.

“When he comes in, he gets everybody a little invigorated about going to vote,” Burge said, arguing that Republicans should stick with the president who helped get them elected. “They rode his coattails for 12 years. They need to continue.”

But some of Georgia’s top Republicans were conspicuously absent.

Kemp, who hasn’t attended a Trump rally since opposing the president’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election, didn’t break that streak Saturday. Instead, he sent a written statement extolling the Audi project, which he worked for years to land.

And Lt. Gov. Burt Jones had planned to attend to support the GOP ticket and perhaps bury the hatchet with Jackson, his former rival whom he has yet to endorse.

“It didn’t sound like any statewide official was going so I was going to help get the base out,” Jones said in an interview Friday. “But then I was told it wasn’t necessary.”