Democrats push to expand Georgia map as Republicans aim to end familiar fissures
SAVANNAH – Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a rally in Savannah on Thursday before thousands of supporters, an organizational flex designed to show the campaign’s strength in a part of the state where Democratic presidential contenders rarely venture.
Around the same time, Gov. Brian Kemp will participate in a more private ritual that also has important implications for Georgia’s vote. He’s the honored guest at a ritzy fundraiser for Donald Trump weeks after the former president berated him on his home turf.
Taken together, the two near-simultaneous events show how drastically the race has changed in Georgia since President Joe Biden dropped out and gave Democrats new hope of recapturing a state that Republicans see as vital to their November chances.
A few weeks ago, Republicans basked in a sense of unity around Trump’s bid. Even Kemp, with his many reasons to oppose Trump’s comeback, made the pilgrimage to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to extend an olive branch to MAGA forces.
It was Democrats who worried about eroding support from their base with Biden at the top of the ticket. Polls showed Black voters, the party’s most loyal constituency, drifting away from Biden despite rock-solid support from Democratic party elders.
In the roughly five weeks since Biden withdrew from the race, Harris has consolidated Democratic support and moved to expand the map in Georgia by appealing to independents and disaffected Republicans uneasy about another Trump term.
And though her coastal Georgia bus tour on Wednesday stuck to Democratic-friendly areas, her aides say she intends to venture deeper into deep-red territories where she has no hope of overwhelming Trump but a more realistic chance of cutting GOP margins.
Meanwhile, the Republican harmony in Georgia was shattered in early August when Trump revived a long-standing feud with Kemp seemingly out of thin air. Both have worked to calm tensions since then, but senior Republicans are skeptical it will last.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in Georgia
Follow updates of the presidential campaign bus tour in South Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has journalists traveling with Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on a two-day swing through southeast Georgia that ends Thursday evening with a rally in Savannah at the Enmarket Arena and and a sit-down interview airing on CNN.
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- Friday on “Politically Georgia”: Savannah Mayor Van Johnson joins the show to talk about Vice President Harris campaign rally. He’ll also review sound from Harris’ first joint interview with Gov. Walz. Then, Rep. Buddy Carter offers the Republican ground game. Plus, we answer questions from the listener mailbag
Kemp is doing his part. He told Paul Steinhauser of Fox News this week that he saw the former president’s 10-minute tirade in Atlanta that branded Kemp a “bad guy” and “disloyal” and denigrated his wife Marty as a “small distraction that’s in the past.”
“To me, that’s what we need to stay focused on,” Kemp said of the party’s goal of defeating the Democratic ticket, “not some dustup from two or three weeks ago.”
A term-limited governor with potential White House aspirations of his own, Kemp has tried to follow his own approach to Trump by stressing his loyalty to the GOP while refraining from a full-throated embrace of the former president or his brand of politics.
For instance, Kemp’s aides have indicated he’s not signing over sole use of his powerful political machine to Trump’s campaign despite pressure from national Republicans. Nor is he expected to soon appear at a rally headlined by the former president in Georgia.
But Kemp intends to help in other ways, including taking part in the Thursday fundraiser for Trump’s campaign in Georgia co-hosted by former Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her husband Jeff Sprecher, billionaire tech executives who are Trump’s top donors in Georgia.
And his top deputies have carried his message to donors, activists and political leaders across the state. Cody Hall, one of his most trusted aides, appeared on the “Politically Georgia” show this week to reinforce the governor’s support for Trump.
At least one top Republican approved of the message. Trump took to social media to praise Hall’s podcast interview in his own unique MAGA manner as he tried to project GOP unity in Georgia.
About the Author
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
