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CLARKSTON, Ga. — Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama lent their star energy to Kamala Harris’ quest for the presidency on Thursday, because the vice-president implored Georgia voters to think about the “brutally critical” penalties if Donald Trump wins a second time period within the White Home.
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Harris requested voters to think about who’ll be sitting within the Oval Workplace simply three months from now and take into consideration the brand new president’s priorities.
“It’s both Donald Trump in there stewing over his enemies checklist, or me working for you, checking off my to-do checklist,” she mentioned. “You have got the ability to make that call.”
The presence of Springsteen, whose profession spans 5 a long time, and former president Obama, nonetheless one of many largest names in Democratic politics, highlights how Harris is leaning on a few of the most noteworthy names within the celebration to assist her ship her closing message and lambast her opponent.
Obama, who obtained a rousing reception from the rally crowd at a packed highschool soccer stadium exterior of Atlanta, advised his viewers, “I get why folks need to shake issues up, however what I can not perceive is why anyone would suppose that Donald Trump would shake issues up in methods which are good for you.”
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Harris echoed that message in her speech, warning that “the results of him being president once more are brutally critical.”
The prolonged rally ran nicely delayed and seemingly took a toll on attendees. Whereas the overwhelming majority of seats remained full, lots of of individuals streamed out of the occasion early as Harris spoke after hours of programming.
The opposite audio system wasted no time attacking Trump.
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Obama argued his successor was at all times “attempting to promote you stuff,” was somebody who solely cares about “his ego, his cash, his standing,” and often provides prolonged speeches which are “simply phrase salad.
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“We don’t want 4 years of a wannabe king, a wannabe dictator,” Obama mentioned earlier than providing Harris as somebody “prepared for the job.”
After arguing Trump is targeted solely on himself, Obama added, “In case you elect Kamala Harris … she shall be centered on you.”
Springsteen, too, centered on Trump.
After a efficiency of The Promised Land, a ballad off his 1978 album Darkness on the Fringe of City, Springsteen advised the Georgia viewers he was backing Harris as a result of he desires “a president who reveres the Structure.
“There is just one candidate on this election who holds these rules expensive, Kamala Harris. She’s working to be the forty seventh president of the USA. Donald Trump is working to be an American tyrant,” Springsteen added earlier than taking part in Land of Hope and Desires and Dancing within the Darkish.
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The Trump marketing campaign known as Harris’ use of Obama and Springsteen “a determined, last-ditch effort to salvage her spiralling marketing campaign.
“Counting on celebrities is nothing new for the celebration of Hollywood elites — and as voters notice the depths of Kamala’s incompetence and radicalism, she wants an added draw,” the marketing campaign mentioned in an announcement.
Harris’ rally in Clarkston — an jap Atlanta suburb — mirrored the suburb’s popularity because the “most numerous sq. mile in America.” The neighborhood has taken in waves of immigrants and refugees, and 40% of its inhabitants was foreign-born in 2020.
The DJ working the group earlier than the occasion began known as out not solely to graduates of traditionally Black schools and universities, however to West Indians. Amongst these within the snaking line to enter have been folks of Asian descent and ladies in hijabs.
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Many attendees mentioned they have been attempting to push their relations and neighbours to the polls to vote for Harris, both via formal volunteer efforts or on their very own. “I made a decision to go volunteer as a result of I couldn’t hold my mouth shut,” mentioned Beverly Payne, who lives in Cumming, a Republican suburban stronghold north of Atlanta.
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Payne mentioned she remains to be engaged on persuading her mom however has already swung one Georgia vote to Harris. “My 85-year-old father has gone Democratic for the primary time in his life,” she mentioned.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson, director Spike Lee and actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry additionally spoke firstly of the occasion.
“It doesn’t matter what form of shenanigans, skullduggery and subterfuge, the okie-doke, we’re not going again,” Lee proclaimed.
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Harris’ run of occasions with celebrities will proceed Friday when she travels to Texas for a Houston rally with Beyonce, in keeping with three folks conversant in the matter. The singer is a Houston native, and her 2016 music Freedom has grow to be Harris’ marketing campaign anthem.
Whereas the Friday rally is in a purple state that even probably the most optimistic Democrat is aware of the vice-president is unlikely to show blue in November, the occasion Thursday in Georgia highlights that state’s outstanding place in her attainable path to defeating Trump.
Democrats, led by then-former vice-president Joe Biden and Harris, gained Georgia in 2020, turning into the primary Democratic presidential marketing campaign to win the state since Invoice Clinton in 1992. Harris’ marketing campaign is hopeful she will be able to hold the state blue in 2024.
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Polls of possible voters in Georgia from NYT/Siena to Fox Information to the Atlanta Journal-Structure present a good race between Trump and Harris.
Thursday’s occasion is the primary within the marketing campaign’s “When We Vote We Win” live performance sequence that goals to encourage Harris supporters to vote earlier than Election Day.
Harris shouldn’t be the one member of the Democratic marketing campaign to lean on star energy within the ultimate days. Gov. Tim Walz, her working mate, had occasions in North Carolina on Thursday alongside singer-songwriter James Taylor.
Democrats are identified for leaning on high-profile surrogates within the ultimate days of presidential races.
Springsteen has lengthy been a supporter of Democratic presidential campaigns. The artist backed Obama in 2008 and 2012, even endorsing the would-be president within the contentious 2008 Democratic major. He backed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, acting at a Philadelphia rally on the eve of Election Day, and endorsed Biden in 2020. The New Jersey artist endorsed Harris earlier this month, calling Trump the “most harmful candidate for president in my lifetime.”
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Beyonce, too, backed Clinton in 2016, acting at an occasion in Cleveland alongside husband and rapper Jay Z simply days earlier than election day that yr. And Taylor has grow to be a staple at Democratic occasions and fundraisers.
However Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016, regardless of the appreciable star energy behind her, serves as a warning for Democrats that vitality supplied by big-name artists like Springsteen and Beyonce is usually not sufficient to win an election.
Harris marketing campaign advisers, although, see occasions like these in Georgia and Texas as main moments to mobilize voter enthusiasm and get out the vote earlier than Election Day.
Based on the Related Press depend, 2,025,645 folks in Georgia have already voted early in-person, whereas an extra 134,336 mail-in ballots have been submitted within the 2024 normal election.
— Jeff Amy contributed to this report from Clarkston.
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