Parades, pep rallies and pleading: Georgia candidates make final push for votes

“Do not listen to what people are telling you about the polls and everything else,” Democratic state Rep. Erick Allen said. “There are going to be some surprises on Tuesday.”

While Republicans are more optimistic about their election chances, GOP candidates had a different struggle on their hands: persuading their backers not to be complacent in the final stretch.

In Hiram, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley implored Republicans not to believe the predictions of a “red wave” sweeping the nation. She was campaigning for U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker, who is among the few Republicans in a tight race in the polls.

“The win that will happen in Georgia will simply be based on turnout,” Haley told supporters outside a local printing press. “Do more of us show up than they do?”

Credit: Christina Matacotta

Credit: Christina Matacotta

Gov. Brian Kemp had much the same message in Eatonton, where he told a few hundred supporters that he’s in an uphill battle against Democrat Stacey Abrams despite polls showing him with a solid lead.

“The wind has been blowing in our face,” Kemp said outside a sprawling market in the east Georgia town. “But on Tuesday it’s going to be behind us because we’re going to take it to victory.”

The busy weekend schedule capped a parade of pep rallies, football tailgates, canvassing launches and, well, actual parades across the state. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff joined U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop in a pickup-truck procession in Columbus to boost the longtime Democratic congressman’s reelection bid.

Abrams had no major public events on her agenda Sunday, but she headlined a rally at an east Atlanta arena that melded a campaign stop with a concert. The rapper 2 Chainz and the hip-hop group Earthgang shared time on stage with national advocacy groups.

“Georgia is this country’s North Star,” said Fedrick Ingram of the American Federation of Teachers. “Because if we do it here, we can do it anywhere.”

In Gwinnett County, Warnock spoke in highly personal terms about Walker’s violent history as he sharpened his criticism of his GOP opponent. Walker’s ex-wife accused him of choking her, and a woman said she felt “threatened” by the former football star to have an abortion. He has denied her allegation.

“I don’t take any pleasure in talking about these things,” Warnock said. “I’m a pastor, and I have sat in my office with women who have been victimized by domestic violence. And I can’t ignore this.”

Walker’s allies have hammered Warnock over a March 2020 accusation by the Democrat’s then-wife that he ran over her foot outside of her Atlanta home. Police found no evidence of injury, Warnock said “it didn’t happen” and no charges were filed.

Polls showing a tight Senate race point to the possibility of a December runoff if no candidate gets a majority of the vote. Libertarian Chase Oliver is at about 3% in many polls, and even a meager vote total can be enough to force overtime.

Speaking to reporters at another event in his hometown of Savannah, Warnock was straightforward about his chances of avoiding overtime.

“I’m still hopeful that we may be able to clinch this by Tuesday,” he said. “If not, we’ll soldier on.”

Walker, meanwhile, predicted an outright victory at a rally in west Georgia that drew reporters from outlets as far away as France and Japan.

“Democrats want to talk about pronouns?” he said. “I’ll tell you what: Raphael Warnock’s new pronoun is ‘former senator.’ ”

Further from the spotlight, quieter efforts were underway to energize voters. Jason Esteves, a Democratic candidate for the state Senate, told canvassers in west Atlanta about the repeated calls and texts it took to get his 25-year-old brother to vote early.

“He waited an hour in Gwinnett and he cast his ballot,” Esteves said. “That’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to take each one of us literally going and chasing after every single vote.”

Staff writer Tia Mitchell contributed to this article.