Georgia’s top Democrats are leaning on star power to attract even more attention to their campaigns.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign will host Lin-Manuel Miranda, the famed “Hamilton” creator and artist, at a Wednesday event in Atlanta designed to mobilize Latino voters.
And Stacey Abrams called on Oprah Winfrey to host a virtual event on Thursday to help energize Black voters ahead of her rematch against Gov. Brian Kemp. Winfrey, the media titan, also held a rare in-person campaign rally for Abrams during the closing days of her 2018 bid.
Abrams hasn’t been shy about relying on celebrities to boost her rematch. In recent weeks, her campaign promoted an endorsement from Will Ferrell and featured footage of Common, the entertainer, joining canvassers who knocked on doors in Atlanta.
Warnock, however, has relied less on big-name surrogates this cycle. His campaign said the Miranda event was part of a series of “Latinos for Warnock” gatherings around the state. A poll conducted by the University of Georgia released Wednesday shows Warnock lagging Republican Herschel Walker among Hispanic voters.
Republicans have been helped by a different sort of celebrity.
A string of high-powered GOP figures campaigned recently for Kemp and Walker, the former football star. This week, U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott joined the parade at a pro-Walker event hosted by Fox News personality Sean Hannity.
“There is no state more patriotic than the state of Georgia,” Graham said Tuesday at a Walker rally in Buckhead. “Nobody will have the men and women of the military’s back better than Herschel Walker.”
The star-studded focus on the race is welcome news for Kemp, who has painted his opponent as a celebrity candidate since before she entered the race.
Still, the governor’s campaign spokesman Tate Mitchell noted the famous figure who has yet to stump with Abrams in the closing weeks of the race – a president whose approval rating hovers below 40% in some recent polls.
“Where is Joe Biden?” Mitchell asked.
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