Rock legend Bruce Springsteen will headline Vice President Kamala Harris’ first joint rally with former President Barack Obama in Atlanta on Thursday, kicking off a series of concerts in battleground states.
Springsteen’s concert is part of a wave of new efforts by Democrats to pump up early voting turnout in Georgia amid a tight race between Harris and former President Donald Trump. More than 1.6 million Georgians have already cast their ballots.
The latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, released Tuesday, shows Trump appears to have a slight lead over the Democrat in Georgia. But with 8% of voters still undecided, officials and analysts say the race could break either way.
The Thursday rally, slated for Gwinnett County, will be Obama’s first stop in Georgia this campaign. He held his first rally in Pittsburgh earlier this month and will soon hold events in other competitive states.
A day earlier, Trump will hold a spate of stops across Georgia. He’s holding a town hall with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in Zebulon on Wednesday, followed by a rally at Gas South Arena that evening.
The Harris campaign has brought a string of celebrities to Georgia to boost her campaign against Trump, including recent visits by actor Julia Roberts and a performance by Megan Thee Stallion at her July rally.
And Usher joined Harris at a Lakewood Amphitheater rally Saturday, interrupting a sold-out three-date concert tour in Atlanta to urge Democrats to join the record-setting early voting turnout.
“I’m counting on you — we can make a difference in this election,” said Usher, who attended North Springs High School in Sandy Springs.
Springsteen adds to the star power. Long a critic of Trump — he called the Republican a “moron” in a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone — Springsteen endorsed Harris in a social media post this month that painted her opponent as a threat to democracy.
“Perhaps not since the Civil War has this great country felt as politically, spiritually and emotionally divided as it does than at this moment,” Springsteen said. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
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