Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Kick Off Campaign Bus Tour in Georgia

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, kicked off a bus tour in Georgia on Wednesday, beginning in the historic city of Savannah. Their goal is to maintain the state’s allegiance to the Democratic Party ahead of the upcoming election.

Georgia has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, with the GOP holding all statewide elected offices. However, it swung to the Democrats in the presidential election when Joe Biden narrowly defeated Donald Trump. To further solidify this shift, Harris is set to conduct a solo rally on Thursday, where she will also engage in her first media interview alongside Walz with Atlanta’s CNN.

In a recent statement, Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, expressed optimism about their chances in the state, saying, “I think we can put Georgia in the Harris-Walz column. I’m not going to pretend that that will be an easy thing to do. But can we do it? I absolutely believe that we can win.”

Warnock, who secured his Senate seat in 2020 alongside Jon Ossoff, managed to win a full six-year term in 2022 without the direct push of a presidential campaign. Notably, Biden won the state by less than 12,000 votes, while during this same period, Trump faced criminal charges for allegedly trying to manipulate the election outcome. A case involving Trump and more than a dozen accomplices has been paused pending an appeal related to Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis.

With the announcement of their bus tour last week, Harris’s campaign emphasized the importance of Georgia, citing the state’s diverse coalition of voters, which includes significant populations from rural, suburban, and urban areas, as well as a substantial number of Black voters and working-class families.

In a previous rally held in Atlanta, Harris drew a crowd of over 10,000 attendees, featuring appearances from well-known artists such as Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo. During her address to the crowd, she confidently declared, “I am very clear: The path to the White House runs right through this state. You all helped us win in 2020, and we’re going to do it again in 2024.”

The Georgia bus tour will primarily focus on engaging with smaller groups of voters, mirroring a similar tour that Harris and Walz conducted in Pennsylvania earlier this month. This grassroots approach aligns with their strategy to connect with a broader range of constituents as they campaign for the upcoming election.

As the election approaches, Harris and Walz are likely to continue emphasizing the themes of unity and progress while reinforcing the significance of Georgia in the national electoral landscape. Their efforts aim not only to energize Democratic supporters but also to attract undecided voters in a state that has shown it can sway either way in recent elections.