Obama and Springsteen stump for Harris in Clarkston
Harris’s latest stop in Atlanta is a different path from the usual
Welcome to my newsletter, King Williams. I am a documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author in Atlanta, Georgia. This newsletter covers Atlanta's hidden connections and everything else.
Obama and Springsteen campaign in Clarkston
Former President Barack Obama and music legend Bruce Springsteen campaigned for Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris at a late-minute campaign event in Clarkston Thursday evening.
The event, part of the Harris campaign's last-minute push in crucial swing states, featured celebrities to help energize the Democrats’ lagging results. This includes previous stops in Michigan, where Obama was joined by Detroit rapper Eminem, and a current stop in Houston featuring singer Beyonce.
The Harris campaign is meeting voters in often-supporting but overlooked districts. Districts in blue cities, counties, and metros that have been steadfast Democrats but slightly underperforming compared to 2020. For Atlanta, this stop meant going outside the city limits to nearby Clarkston, a frequently overlooked but growing cultural center in the county and metro Atlanta; the move by Democratic heavy hitters signals a shift in campaigning.
Georgia politicos in attendance
The event was a who’s who of current Georgia Democratic politics. Several Georgia lawmakers attended, including a trip of US House Representatives Hank Johnson, Lucy McBath, and Nikema Williams. It also featured appearances and speeches from Georgia’s US Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, State House Reps Ruwa Romman and Phil Olaleye, State Senators Nabilah Islam Parkes and Jason Esteves, Atlanta Public School member Alfred ‘Shivy’ Brooks, and Dr. LaDena Bolton, the current candidate for DeKalb County’s Super District 7 seat.
2. Location, Location, Location
The rally was held in James R. Hallford Stadium, Georgia's largest high school stadium. It sits nearly directly within the core of central DeKalb, the city of Clarkston, and parts of Stone Mountain. It is also only a 20-minute drive from Atlanta city limits.
The stadium is firmly within the cultural dividing line between North and South DeKalb. It provides access to a growing international and immigrant community in the county. It is equidistant from the county's core voter base, black voters in South DeKalb and white liberals in Northern DeKalb.
The stadium's location also motivated would-be swing voters and forgotten democratic voters in nearby Gwinnett County. The day before, Trump rallied in Duluth, a prominent suburban city 30 minutes north of Clarkston. The event catered to non-voters, infrequent, and swing voters before the last weekend of early voting in Georgia.
Despite its rushed release announcement of the venue, the event was notable as 20,000+ people filled a local high school football stadium in DeKalb County on an often forgotten corridor on Memorial Drive. The addition of ‘The Boss’ himself was a bonus but a necessary secondary jolt in the campaign the Democrats needed in Georgia.
Why DeKalb County?
DeKalb County has nearly half a million voters, roughly 80 to 90% of whom are considered Democratic or mostly Democratic-supporting. DeKalb County is 54% black, 29% black, 8.5% Latino, and 6.2% Asian.
DeKalb County is crucial because it was the tipping point for not only Joe Biden‘s 2020 win but also Warnock's and Ossoff’s US Senate campaigns. Before Wednesday, Thursday's rally turnout was lower than expected. But since the rally, the number of voters has increased in DeKalb County.
For more on DeKalb County you can read my previous works:
South DeKalb Needs More Third Places - My Substack
Opinion: South DeKalb needs more ‘third places’ - Decaturish
Editorial: Will South DeKalb ever get its I-20 East rail line? - Decaturish
The Harris rally came at the right time as there was only one more week left for early voting, and this is the last weekend of early voting in Georgia.
As of Friday, early voting totals have passed 50% of the total turnout of 2020. At the same time, overall turnout shrunk to -2% less than in 2020.
This comes during a slowdown in voter turnout. Tuesday through Thursday saw nearly double-digit declines each day before Thursday’s surprise rally.
Tuesday saw a ~9% drop from Monday, 20% off from the previous record-setting Monday. This was followed by a ~10% drop from Tuesday to Wednesday and a smaller ~4% drop from Wednesday to Thursday, partly due to the late announcement of Obama and Springsteen coming to DeKalb. The event could be considered a success, as Friday saw a dramatic 15% increase in turnout. Friday’s turnout surge was partly fueled by an uptick in Democratic metro Atlanta counties DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Clayton.
3. Obama is still a box office draw.
There is only one Obama. Regardless of how some corners of the internet, activists, and Republicans feel about him, he is the Democrats’ ace in the hole.
The Democrats also realize that without him, there’s almost no way to generate media attention, campaign turnout, and voter enthusiasm, especially for Harris, whose late campaign switch needed his energy after a September slowdown. Obama is box office.
And that type of box office was required for Thursday’s appearance in DeKalb. Harris’s DeKalb rally was for those who missed Obama in 2008 and 2012.
The Harris campaign has taken remixed strategies from his 2008 and 2012 playbook. In Obama's case, hope, enthusiasm, and change are moving forward for Harris, not going back. It’s an easily identifiable calling card for voters that allows for personal projection. See: Make America Great Again.
Obama is the Democrats’ relief pitcher.
The Democrats use Obama like a relief pitcher. Obama’s heavy presence in the October run of the Harris campaign is akin to a World Series appearance for a star relief pitcher trying to close the gap in must-win games. Obama has been in Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and any place the Harris campaign needs. His presence will generate the traditional media coverage and social media avalanche needed to slow down Trump and GOP attack ads.
Since leaving office in January 2017, Obama’s role in the party has changed. After Trump's election, the Obamas have seen their party rely on them more and more in recent years as they are one of the last unifiers within the party and to large swaths of swing voters nationally and statewide. The Obamas have spent the last few years campaigning in hard-to-win states on state-level gubernatorial campaigns and US Senate and House races, albeit with mixed results but reaffirming to the base.
Biden drops out and Obama steps up.
In 2024, after the July switch from President Biden to VP Harris as the Democratic nominee, Obama's role became nationally present again. This was anchored by the party's refocusing on a few big-ticket items and the release of the Harris Plan for America.
By focusing on a limited amount of big-ticket items: abortion, project 2025, and price gouging as a means of reaffirming the base on the campaign’s core issue while selling the Democrat option to swing voters and infrequent voters. Obama has been acting on the offensive for the Harris campaign in parts of the country that previously voted for him and either voted for Trump or stopped voting. Obama was needed in a place like Clarkston. It reaffirmed a base of voters who remembered 2008 and 2012, especially for young voters who missed out and still haven’t voted.
Obama, for all of his detractors, is the celebrity-in-chief. His name draws on its own, often drawing hard-to-secure superstars and celebrities. Having Obama on the social ticket, not the actual ticket, has helped this October surge. It got Eminem in Detroit, Beyonce in Houston, and Springsteen in Atlanta—superstars with loyal, apolitical, or non-political audiences—the type of voters campaigns of all stripes need in a tight election.
4. The celebrity pull of the Democrats
Both Democrats and Republicans have always been celebrity supporters. The Republicans have had two celebrities, actor Ronald Reagan and real estate mogul and reality TV host Donald Trump, become president. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger became the governor of liberal anchor, California.
But in the post-Obama years, the Democrats have taken a brand beating in part by a group of varying factions. Obama, despite all of his success, became an easy target. But he’s also been the one person the GOP and their supporters haven’t been able to defeat at the voting booth or within the culture. The Harris campaign, while late, has been keen to rely on him.
The Boss and others stop by in Clarkston.
Clarkston’s rally was also boosted by longtime Democratic supporter Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen came out to a medley of acoustic renditions of his hits and gave a passionate call to action for people to vote for Harris.
Obama got a whole county to move fast and make things happen
Despite these detractors, no campaign, whether Democratic, Republican, or third party, has galvanized voters like Obama. Or, for that matter, local governments, as the behind-the-scenes scramble to find a venue and meet the safety needs of the Secret Service, saw an entire county shift all of its available resources to accompany the visit. The move also brought tens of thousands of people to Memorial Drive, some for the first time in years and others for the first time ever.
Other celebrities in attendance
Notable celebrities, including media mogul Tyler Perry, film director Spike Lee, and actor/Atlanta ambassador Samuel L. Jackson, all gave speeches supporting Harris. Others, such as actress Natasha Rothwell, Lawrence ‘Miss Lawrence’ Washington, comedian Kiana Dancie, TV’s Judge Hatchett, 12-year-old activist/influencer Knowa De Baraso, V103’s Maria Boyton, and Atlanta-native actress Jasmine Guy, were also in attendance.
The Obama surge has Trump still investing in Georgia.
This has led the Trump campaign to reinvest in Georgia. Despite several stops, favorable polling, and great early voting numbers, the Trump campaign is feverishly still campaigning in the Peach State. Trump and Vance held a rally the day before in Duluth, a purple-ish county, but the Obama Springsteen ticket in Clarkston wiped away all of the social media and traditional media mentions of that event.
Even today, the Trump campaign has JD Vance speaking in downtown Atlanta (something Republicans rarely do) this morning at the Georgia Freight Depot, with Trump returning on Monday.
Did this move the needle?
The early results say yes. At least in metro Atlanta, the surge of voters on Friday helped the Democrats. There is still a long uphill climb as voters in statewide strongholds Athens, Macon, Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, and the black belt are still showing depressed turnouts compared to the GOP.
As of Friday, DeKalb County had a turnout of 38%, and Fulton has 38.7% of eligible voters. The biggest areas of concern are still Clayton (30.2%) and Gwinnett (34.2%) in the metro, with Richmond County (27.4%), where Augusta is located, Muscogee County (31.1%), where Columbus is located, and Chatham County (31.1%), where Savannah is located, to pick up their overall turnouts. Meanwhile, Clarke County, home to Athens and the University of Georgia, has a surprisingly low 23.5%. This is because access to more accessible voting means is lower than in 2020.
The Democrats need all counties mentioned above to be over 80% of the overall turnout if they want Georgia to be in play. This is combined with early voting data showing more rural and conservative districts overperforming in early voting. In addition to an election showing nearly 70% of all early voters over 50. The Democrats need to reinvigorate their core base of voters, black voters, college students, and white liberals, as well as show face to a new, not fully firm base of Gen X/Millenial Latinos and Asian Americans. Clarkston and central DeKalb was the perfect location where all those demographics intersected.
Can the Dems use this Obama push even more?
Due to the time constraints, it’s unlikely that Harris or Obama or any of the other prominent Democratic figures will stop by in Georgia once again, but if they do, somewhere along the lines of Athens, Augusta, Macon, or the Black Belt would be the most likely place because voters are still needed there.
Current polls (538, AJC, and others) show former President Trump maintaining a solid lead over Harris. It would behoove the Dems to do something to get out as many voters as possible before early voting ends or at least have more aggressive statewide GOTV efforts. However, the campaign's redirecting of its money will go to Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, all states where they have better chances.
Conclusion
Turnout was lower than expected before Thursday's rally. The Friday surge was real, but whether that carried over is still undetermined. The Democrats look to try to close the gap in early voting this weekend as next week as they are the last remaining opportunities to do so until election day on the Tuesday after next, November 5th.
Harris’s campaign is trying to bring back some of that Obama energy. But is it too little, too late? We’ll find out sometime around November 5th.
This is the last weekend of early voting; next week is the last to do so! You and your vote matter; use it wisely!
-KJW