Kamala Harris draws crowds in Georgia with Megan Thee Stallion, Quavo
By Nandita Bose
ATLANTA (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris tapped into the popularity of rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo at a spirited Atlanta rally that highlighted the new energy she has brought to November’s election.
In her first trip to Georgia as a presidential candidate on Tuesday, Harris pledged Democrats will win the state, after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his onetime running mate. The momentum in this race is shifting, and “Donald Trump is feeling it,” she said.
With less than 100 days left in one of the least predictable campaign seasons in recent history, Democrats are redrawing their map to victory, hoping the prospect of the first Black and Asian woman president can motivate Democrats to the polls.
“We are not going back,” Harris said to cheers and chants of about 10,000 attendees.
Megan Thee Stallion, whose album “Megan” recently launched at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, performed in a blue pantsuit and tie, the color associated with Harris’ Democratic Party.
She joins a host of musicians who have recently come out in support of Harris’ bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee in the Nov. 5 election.
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, said on MSNBC over the weekend that Harris’ entry into the race “has put Georgia in play” for Democrats and predicted she will win.
Swing states like Georgia, which Democrats barely won in a hard-fought battle in 2020, are fiercely contested because they can lean either to Republicans or Democrats and play a decisive role in presidential elections.
FiveThirtyEight, the poll aggregation site, shows Republican Donald Trump leading Harris by between one and five percentage points in surveys taken after Harris became the likely Democratic candidate.
President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on July 22 and endorsed Harris for the Nov. 5 vote against Trump. Since then, Harris’ election campaign has raised $200 million, signed up 170,000 new volunteers and she has significantly outperformed Biden in recent polling among young people, Black voters and Hispanic voters.
A New York Times/Siena College national poll published Thursday found Harris has narrowed a sizable Trump lead, while Trump had a two percentage point lead in a Wall Street Journal poll published on Friday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published July 23 showed a two point lead for Harris.
Biden’s campaign saw a narrowing path to victory with the “Sun Belt states,” including Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, as unlikely wins. Georgia backed Biden by 0.2 percentage points, just under 12,000 votes in 2020, and Trump by around 5 percentage points in 2016.
Andy Beshear, the twice-elected Democratic governor of deep-red Kentucky, visited Georgia over the weekend to campaign for Harris in the Republican stronghold of Forsyth County.
The Harris campaign is vetting him along with Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota as possible vice presidential candidates. A decision is expected by Aug. 7.
Harris is leaning into her resume as a former district attorney and California attorney general, seeking to draw a contrast with Trump who is the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes.
Trump and 14 co-defendants are accused of racketeering and other charges for their role in attempting to overturn Biden’s narrow win in Georgia.
