Kamala Harris’ Georgia Rally Key Takeaways

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday rallied thousands of supporters during her first campaign stop in Georgia since launching her bid for the presidency.

Democrats have enjoyed a new momentum behind the vice president since she entered the 2024 race on July 21. Polling data, while limited, shows Harris starting to close the gap on former President Donald Trump across national polling. In the key battleground state of Georgia, Harris is tied with Trump, according to a recent poll released by Bloomberg News and Morning Consult.

Organizers of Tuesday’s rally, held at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in Atlanta, told The New York Times that around 10,000 people attended the event, which included a performance by rapper Megan Thee Stallion. According to the stadium’s website, the Convocation Center has seating for up to 8,000 guests.

Early into her roughly 20-minute speech, Harris repeated her line about knowing Trump’s “type,” from her days as a prosecutor, again highlighting the former president’s plethora of legal challenges and 34 felony convictions in Manhattan. Her supporters were also heard chanting, “Lock him up!” a play on the “Lock her up!” chant that Trump supporters hurled at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign on Tuesday for comment on Harris’ rally.

Below are a few key takeaways from Harris’ rally on Tuesday:

Harris Again Challenges Trump to Debate

The vice president threw another jab at Trump for backing out of his agreement to participate in the September 10 presidential debate that will be hosted by ABC News.

“So the momentum in this race is shifting, and there are signs that Donald Trump is feeling it,” Harris said from the podium.

“Last week, you may have seen, [Trump] pulled out of the debate in September that he previously agreed to,” Harris continued. “Here’s the funny thing about that. He won’t debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me.”

“Well, Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage,” she added. “Because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face.”

Trump originally accepted ABC News’ invitation to debate while President Joe Biden was still in the race as the Democrats‘ presumptive nominee. Since Harris announced her campaign, however, the former president has come up with several reasons why he no longer wants to participate, including saying that he thinks the network will not be impartial while moderating.

Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa released a statement Monday evening, saying Trump was “dodging” questions about participating in the September 10 debate because “he’s scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attacks on women, or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice president.” Trump picked Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.

Star Power Shows Up for Harris in Georgia

Harris continued to build on her campaign’s momentum by inviting Stallion, a Grammy Award-winning artist, to perform at Tuesday’s rally before the vice president addressed supporters. Harris has been backed by a long list of celebrities since entering the 2024 race.

Rapper and Atlanta native Quavo also spoke before Harris took the stage and encouraged supporters to get out and vote. He also talked about his experience fighting to tackle gun violence with the Biden administration. His nephew Takeoff, former member of the Migos group that Quavo heads, was fatally shot in 2022.

“What’s only right in the birthplace of the culture is also the same place to launch the first African American woman to run for president,” Quavo said to a cheering crowd Tuesday.

Harris was also joined by Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Democrats.

Stallion and Quavo’s appearances underscore the Democratic Party‘s shift since Harris launched her campaign. The vice president’s embrace of public figures and online trends is likely an effort to garner Gen Z voters’ support in November.

Harris Defends Her Record on Immigration

The vice president also took on Trump’s attacks regarding her record on immigration and promised to sign the bipartisan border security bill into law that was struck down in the Senate in the spring.

“Donald Trump has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk,” Harris said Tuesday.

“Our administration worked on the most significant border security bill in decades,” she continued. “Some of the most conservative Republicans in Washington, D.C., supported the bill … It was all set to pass, but at the last minute, Trump directed his allies in the Senate to vote it down.

“He tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election. Which goes to show, Donald Trump does not care about border security. He only cares about himself.”

After the border bill—drafted by GOP Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut—was presented to lawmakers in February, Trump described it as “a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party” in a post to his Truth Social account. Republicans have denied that the border bill was struck down by lawmakers due to Trump’s criticism.

Trump has also tried to capitalize on the immense pressure the Biden administration has faced over its handling of the U.S. southern border in his attacks on Harris, which he describes as the president’s “border czar.” The vice president’s campaign has responded by describing Trump’s border policy as “xenophobic.”