Stacey Abrams, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, is set to return to her home state on Tuesday evening to campaign alongside Vice President Kamala Harris. Abrams will be joined by a lineup of notable figures, including Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and rapper Megan Thee Stallion, at a 7 p.m. Eastern time event.
This will mark Harris’s 15th visit to Georgia since taking office, as she seeks to build momentum in a state that has been a key battleground in recent elections. Abrams, who lost her 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial bids to Governor Brian Kemp, has been relatively quiet on the political front in recent months, sparking speculation about her future plans.
According to Spelman College professor Marilyn Davis, Abrams’s recent low profile may be a strategic move to avoid galvanizing Trump supporters in the state. However, Abrams has been working behind the scenes to mobilize organizations and drive voter turnout, a effort that has drawn comparisons to the voter project led by the late John Lewis in the 1960s and 1970s.
As the endowed chairwoman for race and black politics at Howard University, Abrams has been focused on her work in Washington D.C., but her reputation as a skilled political organizer remains intact. University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock believes that Abrams’s involvement in the campaign could be a game-changer for Harris, particularly if she can replicate the get-out-the-vote effort that helped drive turnout in 2020.
While Trump currently leads Harris in Georgia by 4.5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average, recent polls suggest a much closer contest, with Trump’s lead narrowing to just one or two points. Abrams’s star power may have waned since her vice presidential bid in 2020, but her influence in Georgia remains significant, and her involvement in the campaign could be a major boon for Harris.
Some analysts argue that the rally could be an opportunity for Abrams to revive her own political fortunes, which have suffered in recent years due to her claims of a stolen election and financial struggles within her Fair Fight Action group. Former Georgia Republican congressman Bob Barr believes that Abrams’s involvement in the campaign is a bid to “resurrect herself from the politically dead,” but acknowledges that Georgia Democrats have done a better job of mobilizing their voters in recent election cycles.
As the campaign heats up, attention is turning to the key demographic groups that could decide the election. While Harris is expected to connect with and drive turnout among nonwhite voters, Bullock believes that white, college-educated voters will be the decisive factor. If Democrats can secure 40% of this demographic, they may be able to win the state, despite Trump’s current lead.
The stakes are high, with President Joe Biden having won Georgia by a razor-thin margin of just 11,779 votes in 2020. As the campaign enters its final stretch, both sides are gearing up for a fierce battle, with Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, set to host their own Atlanta rally just four days after Harris’s event.
