Kamala Harris targets battleground Georgia, with rappers’ help

US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris greets people during a campaign stop at Paschal’s, a historic Black-owned restaurant, in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 30, 2024. (AFP)

ATLANTA – US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail Tuesday in Georgia, hoping to expand Democrats’ battleground map against Donald Trump and appeal to young Black voters with an appearance by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion.

Vice President Harris’s trip to Atlanta comes as reenergized Democrats regard the swing state as being in play again, after it looked beyond hope under President Joe Biden before his shock withdrawal from the 2024 election.

She will address what the Harris campaign described as the largest crowd of her nascent presidential bid, with an indoor arena packed with 10,000 supporters.

With the White House race now turned on its head, 59-year-old Harris on Tuesday released her first television ad since replacing Biden, while the Trump camp released a dueling spot attacking her on the crucial election issue of immigration.

Harris, with just 98 days before the election, is under pressure to announce her vice presidential pick ahead of the Democratic Party’s nominating convention in August. Asked before arriving in Atlanta whether she has chosen a running mate, Harris told reporters: “Not yet.”

But her VP search apparently has accelerated, with Harris and her new running mate due to travel to multiple battleground states next week, US media reported, citing people familiar with the plans.

As for her evening rally in Atlanta, “we do view Georgia as very competitive,” Harris campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters Monday.

‘Underdog’

In her speech, Harris will discuss “the state of the race, reiterating that she is the underdog in this race but has real momentum and grassroots enthusiasm at her side,” a campaign official said on background Tuesday, adding Harris is expected to call out Trump for so far refusing to honor his commitment to debate.

In a sign the southern state will be bitterly fought over, Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance announced they would hold their own rally in Atlanta on Saturday.

“Kamala Harris and her complicit cronies have made the great people of Georgia pay a hefty price for their woke policies,” the Trump campaign said in a statement Tuesday.

Harris took over a bleak electoral map from the faltering Biden, with Democrats’ hopes entirely based on the three Rust Belt post-industrial states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

But they are now looking hopefully again at other “sunbelt” states such as Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, all of which Democrats narrowly won in the 2020 election, her campaign said.

Vance addressed a rally Tuesday in Henderson, Nevada where the Republican swiftly attacked Harris as “dangerously liberal,” while Trump campaigns in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

‘Sucker punch’

In Atlanta, Harris made an unscheduled stop at a restaurant known for its soul food and featuring photographs of prominent African-Americans on the walls, including civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.

Adding some on-stage glitz for younger voters will be Megan Thee Stallion and fellow hip-hop star Quavo, frontman for the now-defunct Georgia group Migos. The two are the latest in a series of celebrity backers for Harris.

“Hotties I’m performing for THEE Kamala Harris today in Atlanta!!” Megan posted on X.

With Harris admitting Democrats are the “underdogs,” the question is now whether a vice president who recorded historically low approval ratings — but is seeing a rapid improvement as a candidate — can maintain momentum until November.

Vance — himself facing a bumpy first week amid reports the Republican Party has buyer’s remorse over his naming to the ticket — admitted that Harris’s last-minute entry was a “sucker punch,” the Washington Post reported.

The race had seemed set to feature former president Trump, 78, against incumbent Biden, 81, but the Democrat’s withdrawal due to concerns over his age now leaves Trump as the oldest major party nominee in US history.