MACON — Donald Trump’s final rally in Georgia this election season was much the same as the first he held here nine years and three campaigns ago: It was full of boasts about his agenda, bleak pictures of Democratic rule and attacks against his opponent.

In his fight to the finish, Trump used his Georgia curtain call Sunday to pitch his agenda to thousands of energized supporters by promising a “golden age” if he’s returned to the White House — and he painted a gloomy picture of Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies.

“All I can say is on Tuesday, just go out and vote and we’re going to close this thing out. And it’s going to be party time,” he said. “This is all you really need to know: Kamala broke it, and I’ll fix it.”

While Trump zeroed in on Middle Georgia, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz pitched a rival vision for the nation’s future at a concert headlined by rock legend Jon Bon Jovi and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe.

“This game is tied,” said Walz, a former high school football coach prone to sports analogies. “We’ve got two minutes left. We’ve got the damn ball. And we’ve got the best quarterback on the field in Kamala Harris.”

Explore4 million Georgians have already voted. Both campaigns can point to encouraging signs from the heavy turnout

Credit: Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With a record 4 million ballots cast during early voting in Georgia, both campaigns have already turned out some of their most loyal supporters. The weekend of rallying marks a shift to get-out-the-vote efforts for Election Day.

Harris made her last campaign stop in Georgia a day earlier, appealing to more than 12,000 voters who packed a parking lot outside the Atlanta Civic Center to “turn the page” on Trump’s divisive policies.

And Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, will make a final pitch to Georgia voters in Cobb County on Monday with an election eve rally featuring some of the former president’s top MAGA allies.

Trump’s Georgia finale was a wistful moment for his hard-core loyalists. One of Trump’s first campaign rallies in Georgia was held at the nearby Macon Coliseum in 2015. The event Sunday at the glittery Atrium Health Amphitheater marked his last Georgia stop of his third White House bid.

“This may be the last Trump rally in Georgia of this campaign cycle, but this is not the end of the MAGA movement,” U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said. “This is only the beginning.”

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Crunch time

At this stage in the race, a candidate’s most precious resource is time. And the frenzy of attention around Georgia, one of the biggest battleground prizes on the map, reflects how both campaigns see a genuine shot at winning the state.

Once an afterthought in presidential races, Georgia’s status as a battleground was cemented by Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 victory. This cycle, the candidates have made more than a dozen visits to the state — and spent more than $300 million to woo voters.

“We win this state, it’s over,” Trump said.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Georgia has also remained an epicenter of legal battles over ballot access and voting procedures since Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat were stymied by GOP state officials and rejected by the courts.

Trump allies are now taking aim at election procedures in deep-blue strongholds, arguing in the court system that Fulton County and other counties wrongly opened offices over the weekend to let voters submit their mail ballots in person.

After a judge on Saturday rejected their legal challenge, Republicans asked a federal court to intervene.

Even key Trump allies see the race in Georgia as a toss-up, and recent polls show just 1 or 2 percentage points separate the rivals. Several also indicate Black voters, who initially showed softer support for Harris, have consolidated behind her bid.

That could put even more emphasis on swing voters who propelled Biden’s victory and helped Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win their U.S. Senate seats.

Harris’ campaign is working to win split-ticket female voters who often vote Republican but balk at the idea of another Trump term. She’s highlighting her support for abortion rights, an issue that 10% of women said was their top concern in the most recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.

Credit: Ben Gray for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The former president is playing into the other side of the gaping gender gap, making a case in particular to Black and Hispanic men that Democratic immigration policies threaten their livelihoods.

“You should demand they give you the numbers of how many Black people are going to lose their jobs” because of immigration policies, Trump said. He went on to cast a dark image of “economic hell” that he would reverse by expanding energy production and imposing tariffs on foreign goods.

‘In the flesh’

The campaign rallies were just a glimpse of the flurry of activity all across the state, as canvassers knocked on doors and worked the phones to turn out as many supporters as possible. Strategists honed their attention on parts of the state that lagged during early voting.

Former President Bill Clinton was dispatched to Richmond County, which logged some of the lowest early voting turnout rates in the state. His appearance drew hundreds to a fish fry, where he urged voters to reject GOP pessimism about the nation’s economy.

“Voters want to see important people in the flesh,” said Rosa Clemons, an Augusta resident. “To have a former president here two days before the election shows how important they consider us around here.”

As for Clinton, he relished the chance to appeal to voters in small towns and rural areas, saying that he urged the Harris campaign to “send me to the country.”

“My highest and best use is to go to small and medium-size markets, to go to places where people who are president or have been president are not likely to go but where people are active and eager to vote,” said Clinton, who campaigned last month in Albany, Columbus and Fort Valley.

Credit: TNS

At Trump’s rally, his Georgia supporters radiated optimism. Some said they can’t imagine him losing, despite tight polls in Georgia and the other six competitive states that could decide the White House.

“He’s just so important to us — I know he will win. He is going to fight for us Americans,” said Sandra Walker, a retiree from Roberta. “And we need him to fix the border because that’s why our economy is struggling.”

Back at Walz’s get-out-the-vote drive in Cobb County, Huraiyah Ahmed spoke about her past support for Republican candidates. This campaign, though, she said she’s backing the Democratic ticket because it’s more likely to “bring the nation together.”

“I feel that Kamala and her team also want to work with everyone,” Ahmed said, “regardless of if you’re Republican, Democrat or independent.”