FORT VALLEY — Standing under the shade of a towering Chinese tallow tree, former President Bill Clinton stumped for Vice President Kamala Harris at a fish fry Sunday that brought memories of his campaign strategy when he ran for the White House more than three decades ago.
Clinton knocked former President Donald Trump and mocked vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s debate performance. He said GOP policies exacted a devastating toll on health care in rural Georgia. And, most of all, he promoted Harris’ campaign.
“I think she has the capacity to be a truly great president,” Clinton said to a few hundred voters at the fish fry, where he spoke for roughly 30 minutes. “You need to vote for her.”
It was Clinton’s first major foray on the campaign trail this cycle, and it was a carefully calibrated swing through South and Middle Georgia that also involved stops at a church service and get-out-the-vote drive in Albany. Monday, he pumped up supporters in Columbus by urging them to “have a good time.”
“Look for somebody in a MAGA cap to take a picture with,” Clinton said with a smile. “But don’t forget: They’ll be better off if you win; you won’t be better off if they do.”
The Harris campaign views Clinton as a rare surrogate who can pull off a twofer: motivate rural Georgians who have drifted away from Democrats while also energizing Black voters who make up the party’s base.
Recent polls of Georgia show Harris with softer support among Black voters than other Democratic statewide candidates at this stage in the contest, and her campaign is taking new steps to rev up core supporters. Harris and Trump plan rallies this week in metro Atlanta.
Trump’s Georgia allies said Clinton’s visit smacked of desperation. Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon linked Clinton’s stop with recent events headlined by actor Julia Roberts.
“If Kamala Harris was winning,” McKoon said, “they would not be summoning movie stars of yesterday and Democratic political stars of yesteryear to try to resuscitate her dying campaign.”
Credit: Courtesy Richard B. Russell Library, University of Georgia
Credit: Courtesy Richard B. Russell Library, University of Georgia
Clinton’s visit evoked memories of his 1992 barnstorming trip across South Georgia when his name was on the ballot. His aides dubbed that campaign blitz, which started in Columbus and ended in Valdosta, the “Bubbas for Bill” tour.
This time, though, Clinton’s stops didn’t involve large rallies or a lengthy caravan that stretched into the horizon. Instead, organizers put the former president in smaller settings. There was even an impromptu stop at a McDonald’s, where startled staffers posed for a selfie.
In Fort Valley, he was joined by U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop and two-time gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.
Sporting ostrich skin boots and a camouflage “Harris Walz” cap, Clinton praised Harris’ economic plan and blamed Republicans for the “cynicism” of rejecting a bipartisan border security bill that could have weakened one of Trump’s main campaign arguments.
Clinton said that measure might have prevented the slaying of Athens nursing student Laken Riley, whose February killing frequently has been mentioned by Trump and his allies as evidence of “failed” Democratic policies. “If they’d all been properly vetted,” Clinton said, “that probably wouldn’t have happened.”
Trump’s campaign panned the remarks on social media: “He was supposed to be campaigning FOR Kamala. YIKES.”
Clinton also highlighted the stakes of Georgia’s vote. Georgia is one of seven battlegrounds that could decide the November race, and both campaigns are devoting more time and attention in the state as early in-person voting begins Tuesday.
“I don’t know if we can make it without Georgia. But I know this: They’ve got one heck of a hill to climb if we do win Georgia,” Clinton said. “It won’t hurt Mr. Trump to climb a few more hills. I’ll even pray for him. But not to get to the top before we do.”
He had a similar message in Albany, where he reminded Democrats that their support helped elect Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in 2021 to flip control of the U.S. Senate.
“They want you to go to sleep, to think you don’t make a difference,” Clinton said. “And you may make more of a difference than you ever had.”
