President Donald Trump is set to return to Georgia before Election Day to give his re-election campaign a final push in a state he can’t afford to lose, according to three senior Republican officials.
He is set to headline a rally in Rome on Sunday. The northwest Georgia city is the heart of one of the state’s most conservative congressional districts, and it’s part of Trump’s efforts to rally white Republican voters.
The president would return to Georgia for the fourth time since July as polls show he’s locked in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Joe Biden. Republicans have carried the state in every presidential contest since 1996, and losing Georgia’s 16 electoral votes could doom his chances for a second term.
Democrats sense a chance to flip the state for the first time since Bill Clinton carried Georgia 28 years ago. Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris visited Atlanta last week, and Biden made two stops in Georgia on Tuesday, including a call for bipartisan compromise in Warm Springs.
Long an afterthought in presidential contests, the flurry of late visits offers the latest reminder that Georgia is now in the searing center of the political spotlight.
In 2016, neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton visited the state in the closing months of the race, and the Republican carried Georgia by 5 percentage points. Now, the final week of the chaotic presidential race features visits from both nominees.
The attention is also aimed at helping down-ticket candidates. Georgia’s the only state with two U.S. Senate seats up for grabs, and the outcome could determine control of the Republican-held chamber. Political prognosticators rate both contests as tossups - and both could wind up being resolved by Jan. 5 runoffs.
And Rome is one of the largest cities in the 14th Congressional District, one of the safest Republican territories in the nation. He’ll encounter a warm welcome from GOP congressional nominee Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has gained national attention for her avid promotion of the baseless pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy.
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