At star-studded Georgia rally, Harris and Obama push early voting in tight race

CLARKSTON, Georgia - Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris basked in the support of rock legend Bruce Springsteen, entertainer Tyler Perry and former president Barack Obama on Oct 24 at a rally that drew thousands in the battleground state of Georgia.

Seeking to excite supporters in a state that could help determine the winner of the 2024 election, the US Vice-President and her high-profile endorsers urged the crowd to take advantage of early voting, and to reject her Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump.

“We here understand we have an opportunity before us to turn the page on the fear and divisiveness that have characterised our politics for a decade because of Donald Trump,” Ms Harris said. “Please vote early.”

Mr Obama,

who has been campaigning in political swing states

for Ms Harris, made his case against Trump, arguing the former president thought about no one but himself.

He implied that Trump was acting like a doddering old man and, in a reference to Trump’s recent event at a McDonald’s, noted that Ms Harris had actually worked at the fast food chain earlier in her life.

“She worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay her expenses. She didn’t pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed,” Mr Obama said.

Ahead of Ms Harris’ remarks, film director Spike Lee warned a packed crowd at the James R. Hallford Stadium not to be “bamboozled” into voting for Republican nominee Trump.

Springsteen performed melancholy laments The Promised Land and Land of Hope And Dreams, and warned Trump was running to be a tyrant.

“He does not understand this country, its history or what it means to be American,” Springsteen said.

About 20,000 people attended the Georgia rally, the Harris campaign said, which would make it her largest political rally yet, besting the 17,000 that she drew in Greensboro, North Carolina, in early September.

As Ms Harris spoke, a noticeable number of people who had been sitting for hours began to leave their seats and make their ways to the exits, leaving pockets of empty seats in what was once a packed house.

The rally represented the latest attempt by the Harris campaign to capitalise on the backing of movie and music stars to rally voters in the closing days of a tight election race.

On Oct 25, she will appear with Beyonce in Houston.

Ms Harris’ whirlwind campaign started with a big jump in the polls after

President Joe Biden dropped out of the race

in late July, but her lead has narrowed in national polls and evaporated in the battleground states that will decide the US election.

Celebrity endorsers add cultural cachet to candidates, and have typically helped campaigns raise money, turn out crowds at rallies and generate excitement on social media.

For both the Harris and Trump campaigns, they are part of the down-to-the-wire blitz to mobilise voters ahead of Election Day on Nov 5.

The Oct 24 rally also marks the first time Ms Harris and Mr Obama campaigned together.

Ms Harris is slated to appear with Mrs Michelle Obama on Oct 26 in Michigan, one of seven swing states expected to decide the winner.

Both Obamas spoke in favour of Ms Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August.

The latest polls in Georgia show Trump with a slight lead, but Harris campaign officials say they remain confident the state, along with its neighbour North Carolina, is still in play.

Mr Biden pulled off a surprise victory in Georgia

in 2020, and Democrats won two hard-fought Senate seats there that gave them control of both houses in Congress for the first half of Mr Biden’s term.

Some 1.9 million residents have already cast their ballots in Georgia, according to the secretary of state’s office.

On Oct 28, Springsteen, 75, will appear in Philadelphia with Mr Obama.

In 2016, Springsteen played a three-song set at a rally in front of 20,000 people at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on the eve of the election.

In 2008, Springsteen played a seven-song set for tens of thousands on the city’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway to urge people to register and vote for Mr Obama.

Taylor Swift, Pink, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Lizzo and many other celebrities have endorsed Ms Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

Swift’s endorsement of Ms Harris via an Instagram post in September has now received more than 11 million likes.

Trump supporters from the entertainment world include musicians Ted Nugent, Kid Rock and Jason Aldean, wrestler Hulk Hogan, who spoke at this summer’s Republican National Convention, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White, actor Dennis Quaid and TV star Amber Rose. REUTERS