Former President Barack Obama rallied Wednesday night in Clayton County with Sen. Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, lending his star power to the top of Georgia’s Democratic ticket less than a week before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The event put the party’s most popular figure at the center of two of the most closely watched races in the country: Ossoff’s bid for a second term, which could decide whether Democrats win a Senate majority, and Bottoms’ campaign to become the first Black woman ever elected governor of any US state.
Obama offered glowing praise for both candidates, describing them as servant leaders who genuinely care about their constituents. This election, he said, “was not just about economics. It’s not just about prices, it’s about values.”
Still, he leaned hard on pocketbook issues, arguing that Americans are paying more for groceries, health care, and utility bills under President Donald Trump. Building on recent speeches in Ohio and Michigan, he doubled down on his critique of Trump’s second term as an era of “chaos and cruelty and corruption.”
He framed the stakes in existential terms, calling the midterms the “last, best chance to rein in some of the foolishness” of the administration.
During their speeches, Ossoff and Bottoms also sharply criticized the president’s policies.
Ossoff accused Trump and his family of enriching themselves while Georgians pay more for everything. Bottoms cast her opponent, billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson, as someone who would simply take orders from Trump. She described both men as “two out-of-touch billionaires who want to keep getting rich off the backs of taxpayers.”
A surge of star power and cash
The rally continued a get-out-the-vote push that has brought a stream of national Democrats, and a flood of money, to the Peach State ahead of the midterm elections.
On Monday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and is often mentioned as a 2028 presidential contender, campaigned with Bottoms in Atlanta. He announced the DGA would invest an additional $5 million in her race, bringing the group’s total to $16 million. The commitment signals that Democrats see Georgia as one of their best chances to flip a governor’s mansion this year.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris is also scheduled to campaign in Georgia on Thursday, first in Macon and then in Atlanta. Over the past two weeks, a long list of other Democrats, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, have also passed through the state.
Republicans have answered with heavy hitters of their own. President Trump has rallied for Ossoff’s opponent, Republican Rep. Mike Collins, and Jackson in Dalton and Perry, while Vice President JD Vance has campaigned in Atlanta.
What’s at stake in Georgia’s Senate and governor races?
Ossoff has led in all recent public polling and holds a commanding financial edge. He recently reported raising $33 million during the July through September fundraising period, compared to $2.7 million for Collins.
The governor’s race is far tighter. Bottoms, who served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022 and later as a White House adviser to President Joe Biden, is running to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
Jackson has spent more than $200 million of his own money across the primary and general election, giving him roughly a five-to-one spending advantage. A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution/University of Georgia poll found the race in a dead heat.
Despite the record fundraising gap, Bottoms was upbeat.
“No wannabe dictator and his billionaire sidekick will stop the momentum we are seeing across this state,” she said.
Georgians have already shattered early voting numbers during a midterm election. More than 2 million people have cast ballots, after the first day of early voting alone drew almost 190,000 voters, about 53,000 more than the first day in 2022.
Early in-person voting ends Friday, Oct. 30. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
