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“There are signs Donald Trump is feeling” the competition, she says.
“You may have noticed he pulled out of the debate.”
She repeats the assertion made by her campaign in recent days that Trump is “just plain weird”.
“I do hope Trump will agree to meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face.”
The crowd loses it.
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Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer is on CNN now. In an interview on Monday with CBS, Whitmer said that she has not been vetted by Harris’s office and expects Harris to announce her pick within the week, which would confirm the Democratic ticket at least two weeks before the Democratic national convention begins on 19 August in Chicago.
She has reiterated that now – she has not been vetted and will not be the pick. She says, instead, that she will be Harris’s “best friend” on the ground.
During the warmup to Kamala Harris’s appearance Tuesday in Atlanta, mayor Andre Dickens noted that this was the vice-president’s 15th time visiting the state since 2021. Harris has been in Atlanta so often that she may as well have rented a condo in Buckhead to save money.
For the last two years, Harris has been Joe Biden’s chief campaign surrogate in Georgia, making deliberate connections with campaign organizers and Black community leaders, a weapon in the Democratic arsenal that Republicans have not been able to match.
“Georgia is on everybody’s mind,” said Raphael Warnock, the senator and reverend, to a boisterous crowd. “And there’s a reason. Because of what you did in 2020, 2021, everybody knows that the road to the White House goes through Georgia.”
The fast-growing, diversifying Atlanta suburbs and exurbs offer the most opportunity for swings, especially from GOP-leaning moderates disenchanted with Trump.
For Harris, the AP reports, that means depending on voters as varied as Michael Sleister, a white suburbanite, and Allen Smith, a Black man who lives not far from downtown Atlanta.
Sleister, who considers himself an independent, has lived in Forsyth County for 35 years. “I’ve voted Republican many times in my life,” he said, but not since the GOP took a rightward turn during President Barack Obama’s administration.
“Now I see the Republican Party as representing a direct threat to my grandchildren,” he said, adding that he sees Trump “as just a horrible person.”
Smith is a 41-year-old Atlanta native who has become a first-time campaign volunteer since Harris became the likely nominee.
“I was driving when I heard the news about President Biden endorsing her, and I started pounding my fist — I decided right then I would do whatever I could to help her get elected,” Smith said.
The Associated Press has spoken to people at the rally:
The roughly 8,000-capacity basketball arena at Georgia State University was filled to its rafters with thousands of voters waving signs, dancing to the Harris campaign soundtrack and celebrating an atmosphere that would not have been possible just 10 days ago, with the party reeling over whether the 81-year-old Biden would remain in the race after a dismal performance magnified concerns about his age and abilities.
“This is like Barack Obama 2008 on steroids for me,” said Mildred Hobson Doss, a 59-year-old who came downtown from suburban Lilburn. “I would have voted for President Biden again. But we are ready.”
Harris is hoping the rally, which featured a performance by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, will help affirm her campaign’s momentum. The campaign argues that Harris’ appeal to young people, working-age women and non-white voters has scrambled the dynamics in Georgia and other states that are demographically similar, from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona.
“The energy is infectious,” said Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams, a congresswoman from Atlanta. “My phone has been blowing up. People want to be part of this movement.”
Here is Harris challenging Trump to debate her:
Kamala Harris just looked at the camera and spoke directly to Trump, "Well, Donald. I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. Because as the saying goes, if
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 30, 2024
you got something to say, say it to my face." pic.twitter.com/kUbsubCZQm
The novelty of Harris’s energy and charisma has not worn off. She is forceful, confident and responsive – unruffled by applause or unexpected chanting. It is striking compared to Biden’s slow, often quiet delivery.
Here is a recap of Harris’s speech in Atlanta:
“As many of you know, before I was elected vice president … I was an elected attorney general and an elected district attorney,” Harris said.
“Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type, and I have been dealing with people like him my entire career,” Harris added, touting her prosecution of fraudsters and cheaters and referencing Trump’s criminal convictions and the findings of fraud in his businesses.
This elicited chants of “lock him up!”
She noted Trump’s fraudulent school – well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse. As an attorney general, I held big wall street banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was found guilty of fraud. In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day, including on the issue of immigration.”
Harris spoke of walking underground tunnels at the California border and prosecuting traffickers, and pledged to bring back the border security bill that was tanked in congress by Republicans to preserve the issue in the campaign.
Referencing a Migos song -- popular as an Atlanta group -- she said “He does not walk it as he talks it.”
“Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said. “When our middle class is strong, America is strong. To keep our middle class strong, families need relief from the high cost of living so that they have a chance not to get by but to get ahead.”
She said she would go after price gouging and hidden fees by banks and other companies, and take on corporate landlords to cap unfair rent increases, and to cap prescription drug costs.
Trump won’t debate, but he and JD Vance have lots to say about her, she said. She described it as plain weird.
“As the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,” Harris said, as the crowd exploded.
Georgia, today I ask you, are you ready to get to work.
“There are signs Donald Trump is feeling” the competition, she says.
“You may have noticed he pulled out of the debate.”
She repeats the assertion made by her campaign in recent days that Trump is “just plain weird”.
“I do hope Trump will agree to meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face.”
The crowd loses it.
“We who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Trump’s extreme abortion bans,” she says. She promises to sign into law a bill to protect abortion rights.
“November 5th is in 98 days,” she says. “And we have a fight in front of us. And we are the underdogs in this race. We are. But you see, this is a people-powered campaign. In fact after I announced my candidacy we saw the best grassroots fundraising in history.”
“We are not going back,” Harris says, and the crowd chants the words.
“Ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom. And we are witnessing a full on assault from hard-won rights”.
She talks about the “freedom to love who you want, openly and with pride” to particularly loud cheers.
“And the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body, and not have her government tell her what to do,” Harris says forcefully, to the biggest cheers of the evening so far.
Now Harris talks about Project 25 – the words are met with loud boos.
“While inflation is down and wages are up, prices are still to high",” Harris says. “On day one I will take down price gouging and hidden costs.”
“We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases,” she says to huge applause. “And we will take on big pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans,” she says.
Harris repeats her message that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency.