Harris ends two-day Georgia bus tour with appeal to voters at Savannah rally

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Vice President Kamala Harris sought to shore up Democratic support in Georgia on Thursday by visiting a part of the battleground state where politicians don’t appear as often as the more densely populated Atlanta area.

“Over the last two election cycles, the voters of this state, you who are here, have done your part. You have sent two extraordinary senators to Washington,” Harris said, referring to Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

She said Georgia residents mobilized four years ago to put a Democrat in the Oval Office, and she hopes for a repeat performance.

“You showed up, you knocked on doors, you registered people to vote and you made it happen,” Harris said. “You did it. And now we’re asking you to do it again.”

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Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, were on a two-day bus tour of southeast Georgia. During a stop at a Savannah coffee shop Thursday, Harris said she plans to introduce a tax break proposal for startups and small businesses next week.

“This is one of my priorities: investing in and growing our small businesses,” she said.

Just before the rally, Walz joined Harris for a joint interview with CNN, set to air Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, her first interview since announcing her candidacy for the White House late last month.

The crowd began gathering at the Enmarket Arena in Savannah more than three hours before Harris was set to speak, braving heavy rain and waiting in long lines to get through security. Inside the arena, energetic supporters held signs saying “Freedom” and “A New Way Forward” and danced to songs by local radio host CJ the DJ as blue and white lights illuminated the audience.

A Harris-Walz campaign official said 7,500 people attended the event. The official said that was the venue’s maximum capacity.

Protesters interrupted Harris twice, and the crowd cheered as they were led away. One protester was pro-Palestinian; it was unclear what the other protester was saying.

“I am speaking now,” Harris said as the first protester was led away, adding that she and President Joe Biden were working “around the clock” to secure hostages.

Walz was not on stage at the Savannah rally. He is in North Carolina for two campaign events.

Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia in 2020 came by fewer than 12,000 votes. One of the state’s bluest regions is metropolitan Atlanta, where Biden outperformed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in nearly every county.

But Democratic leaders in Savannah say Harris’ campaign is helping to boost support for the party in the southeastern part of the state.

“Atlanta has always been the center of attention, it’s always been loved, but we here in southeast Georgia really matter,” said Aaron “Adot” Whitely, the Democratic Party chairman in Chatham County, where Savannah is located.

Biden slightly improved Democrats’ lead in two Democratic-leaning southeastern counties in 2020, winning Chatham with 58.6% of the vote.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who has long spoken about the need for Democrats to engage more seriously with cities other than Atlanta, said he believes the Harris campaign has answered his call by opening seven field offices in south Georgia.

“There’s a common misconception that Georgia is Atlanta and Atlanta is Georgia,” Johnson said. “Each city, each county has its own distinct character and its own distinct history, so it would be foolish to think that you can fly in and out of Atlanta and see Georgia.”

Jonae Wartel, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign in Georgia, emphasized that Democrats learned the importance of having a state-level strategy through the successful 2021 Senate runoff elections, when she served as the Georgia Democrats’ runoff director.

Warnock and Ossoff won their elections nearly four years ago, giving Democrats a majority in the Senate. Warnock retained his seat in 2022, defeating his Republican opponent.

“I think it’s really important to not see Georgians as one type of voter, but rather as a broad coalition,” Wartel said. “So taking it to parts of Georgia that are outside of the Atlanta metropolitan area is incredibly important.”

The campaign’s volunteer efforts gained momentum after Harris announced her campaign, with more than 35,000 people in Georgia signing up, Porsha White, Harris’ Georgia campaign director, said in a news release.

Amy Morton, CEO of Democratic consulting firm Southern Majority, said Harris’ rise to the top of the ballot was also a “game changer” in the lower-level race.

Often, Democrats in undecided districts try to distance themselves from the presidential candidate, Morton said.

“It’s the opposite in this situation,” she said. “I already have Republican opponents in these districts who are running away from Trump.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com