CLARKSTON, Ga. (AP) – Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama lent their star power to Kamala Harris’ presidential bid Thursday, making the vice president the highest-profile surrogate in the final stages of the campaign. While we are recruiting some people,
The hiring of Springsteen, an iconic performer with a career spanning 50 years, and Obama, who remains one of the biggest names in Democratic politics, will help the Harris campaign tap into its most powerful supporters ahead of Election Day. It highlights how much he relies on himself and runs as fast as he can. Notable names within the party helped deliver her final message, while also slamming her opponent, former President Donald Trump.
“I understand why people want to shake things up, but what I don’t understand is why they think Donald Trump would shake things up for their good,” Obama told an audience in suburban Atlanta. It’s about whether there are people there.”
Obama wasted no time in attacking Trump, calling him someone who only cares about “his own ego, his own money, his position” and who gives long-winded speeches that are “just a salad of words.” “He’s trying to sell something,” he said, slamming him.
“You don’t need four years for someone who wants to be a king, someone who wants to be a dictator,” Obama said, before touting Harris as someone “ready for the job.”
“If you elect Kamala Harris…she’ll be focused on you,” President Obama said after President Trump claimed he was focused on himself.
Springsteen also took note of Trump.
After a performance of the ballad “The Promised Land” from his 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town, Springsteen told the Georgia audience that his support for Harris was because “the Constitution He said this is because he wants a president who will respect him.
“Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this election who holds these principles dear. She is running to be the 47th President of the United States. Donald Trump is on his way to becoming America’s tyrant.” Springsteen added, then performed “Land of Hope and Dreams” and “Dancing in the Dark.”
Harris’ rally in Clarkston, an eastern suburb of Atlanta, took place on a high school football field, and the audience reflected the suburb’s reputation as “the most diverse square mile in America.” The community has welcomed waves of immigrants and refugees, and in 2020, 40% of the population was foreign-born.
Before the event began, the DJ manning the crowd addressed not only alumni of historically black colleges but also West Indians. Among those waiting in the snaking line to get in were people of Asian descent and women wearing hijabs.
Many attendees said they were using formal volunteer work or their own efforts to get relatives and neighbors to go to the polls to vote for Harris. “I decided to volunteer because I couldn’t stay silent,” said Beverly Payne, who lives in Cumming, a Republican suburb north of Atlanta.
Payne said she is still trying to convince her mother, but she has already swung Georgia’s vote to Harris. “My father, who is 85 years old, became a Democrat for the first time in his life,” she said.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson, director Spike Lee, and actor and director Tyler Perry also spoke at the beginning of the event.
“No matter what prank, skull, subterfuge, okie-edoke, we will not turn back,” Lee declared.
What you need to know about the 2024 election
Harris’ events with celebrities will continue on Friday, when she and Beyoncé travel to Texas to attend a rally in Houston, three people familiar with the matter said. The singer is from Houston, and her 2016 song “Freedom” became Harris’ campaign anthem.
Friday’s rally is in a red state where even the most optimistic Democrats know the vice president is unlikely to turn blue in November, but Thursday’s rally in Georgia is a red state that even the most optimistic Democrats know is unlikely to turn blue in November. It highlights the state’s critical position in the path to potentially defeating the president.
In 2020, the Democratic Party led by then-Vice President Joe Biden and Harris won Georgia, becoming the first Democratic presidential campaign to win the southern state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Harris’ campaign hopes she can keep the state blue in 2024.
Poll of likely voters in Georgia New York Times/Siena to fox news to atlanta journal constitution It shows a close race between Trump and Harris.
Thursday’s event is the first in the campaign’s “When We Vote We Win” concert series aimed at encouraging Harris supporters to vote before Election Day.
Harris wasn’t the only member of the Democratic camp to rely on star power in the final stages. Vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz will hold an event in North Carolina on Thursday with singer-songwriter James Taylor.
Democrats are known for relying on high-profile surrogate candidates in the final days of presidential elections.
Springsteen has long supported Democratic presidential campaigns. The artist supported Obama in 2008 and 2012, and also supported the presidential candidate in the controversial 2008 Democratic primary. He endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, performing 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 “my most dangerous presidential candidate.” lifetime. “
Beyoncé also supported Clinton in 2016, appearing at an event in Cleveland with her husband, rapper Jay-Z, days before Election Day that year. And Taylor became a fixture at Democratic events and fundraisers.
However, Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016 showed that even though she had considerable star power behind her, the energy provided by big-name artists like Springsteen and Beyoncé was not enough to win the election. It served as a warning to Democrats that it is often not enough to win.
But Harris’ campaign advisers see events like those in Georgia and Texas as key moments to mobilize voter enthusiasm and get votes in time for Election Day.
According to Associated Press number2,025,645 people have already voted early in Georgia, and an additional 134,336 mail-in ballots have been submitted for the 2024 general election.
___
Merica reported from Washington. Jeff Amy contributed to this report from Clarkston.
