Election Day is just a week away, and presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, along with well-known surrogates, continue to make their last pitches to voters in key battleground states, including Georgia.
Former first lady Michelle Obama hosted a rally for When We All Vote, the nonpartisan voter outreach initiative that she founded in 2018 with the aim of turning out younger, more diverse voters. Meanwhile, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz was in Savannah and Columbus on Tuesday rallying voters Georgians to vote ahead of Election Day.
Former first lady Michelle Obama ended her rally by urging young people to vote "in every single election, every single time."
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With one week to go before the election, Michelle Obama told attendees at her When We All Vote rally in College Park not to waste their votes by staying home.
"We've got a lot of folks thirsty for likes on their phones but uninterested in the needs of their communities," she said. "We've got folks voting on reality shows but not voting on their actual reality."
Obama told the room of predominantly young voters to urge anyone they know who may have said they weren't planning to vote to head to the polls by Tuesday. She reminded voters that the election in Georgia was decided by fewer than 12,000 votes.
"When you break 12,000 people down across precincts, that's just four votes per precinct," she said. "So these numbers that we're talking about - three, five, 10 - that's real."
Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright encouraged the crowd at the When We All Vote rally to use their vote as a tool to fight for a better America.
Brown prefaced her remarks with a song from the Civil Rights Movement, saying the leaders of that movement were fighting for a right to vote and pushing back on the powers that be. The young voters in the audience now must do the same, she said.
"Ultimately, this is your moment," Brown said. "I want you all to really recognize that when our rights are under attack, we've got to organize and fight back."
Albright said the movement has to include voters of all races, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities and life experiences. And that the goal was to engage voters in every part of Georgia.
"From Savannah to Atlanta, from Muscogee to Savannah, we out here in these streets, y'all, because that's what it takes," he said.
As former first lady Michelle Obama's nonprofit group held a rally in Atlanta to encourage Georgians to vote, Vice President Kamala Harris made her closing arguments to an estimated 75,000 people from the grassy Ellipse near the White House in Washington.
Read about her speech here.
McEachern High School senior Desana Clark said she felt "joy and liberation" when she cast her first ballot alongside her family last week.
"Joy because I have reached a major milestone and liberation, well, because I finally have a say," she said.
Clark was one of two speakers who shared their first-time voting experiences. Mason Clark, a young entrepreneur, said he dragged a friend out of bed to go vote on the first day of early voting.
"I was so excited to have a voice, not only in my community, but as well as in my country," he said.
Singer Victoria Monét said she understands that it can seem daunting to vote for the first time but resources exist to help new voters find their way.
"The possible consequences of not using your voice are far more complex and will last way longer than the voting process itself," she told the thousands of young people gathered at tonight's rally.
Monét, the singer behind the hit single "On My Mama," is among the stars appearing at the nonpartisan rally sponsored by Michelle Obama's When We All Vote organization.
The Atlanta native said her hometown is a special place and that she felt a unique energy upon returning to encourage young people to get involved this election season.
"There is a power to this place," Monét said. "This is a city that marches. This is the city that rallies. This is a city that shows up for our people and for ourselves. This is a city that votes."
Singer Ciara reminded attendees at the When We All Vote rally of the rich culture of Atlanta and reminded them that Georgia is a state that could play a large role in the outcome of next week's election.
"We work hard. We get the job done. And we make history," she said at the event held in her hometown, College Park. "Now, Atlanta, over the next seven days, we get another chance to show the world what we're made of. ... We have to do everything we can to show up for whatever candidates and issues we care about."
Georgia is one of several swing states in play this election. Democrats are hoping the state goes blue for the second presidential cycle in a row, while Republicans say Georgia is a red state that will vote red again.
With just one week until the election, Gov. Tim Walz urged voters to get their undecided friends and family out to the polls and said momentum is on his side.
Speaking at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center, he said that in Georgia, “one or two votes makes a difference.”
After former President Jimmy Carter cast his ballot in Georgia earlier this month, Walz turned to his wife, he said, and asked, "Wouldn’t it be poetic justice if we win Georgia and it’s by Jimmy Carter’s one vote?”
By 5 p.m., a long line of attendees started making their way into the Gateway Center arena in College Park for a get-out-the-vote rally featuring former first lady Michelle Obama.
In addition to general admission attendees and journalists, several influencers also were invited to the rally hosted by Obama's When We All Vote organization, a nonpartisan group that focuses on getting young voters and people of color to the polls.
While the organization is nonpartisan, Obama and several speakers - such as singer Kelly Rowland and showrunner Shonda Rhimes - have campaigned on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, with Rhimes attending several events in the Atlanta area today.
At the Iron Bank Coffee Co. in downtown Columbus, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke with educators and asked them what they need to be successful. The former social studies teacher shared his experiences in the classroom.
He also talked with patrons in the restaurant, including Cole Brown, 18, and Avery Hammond, 19, about the importance of voting early. Before he left, he and his daughter Hope ordered drinks and pastries at the counter.