Trump urges supporters to ‘pretend’ he’s on the ballot as he campaigns with Georgia Republicans

DALTON, Ga. – President Donald Trump returned to conservative northwest Georgia Friday, sharing a rally stage with the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate and the Republican who hopes to serve as Georgia’s next governor – all while repeating unfounded claims that the 2020 election was rigged. 

Early voting started Monday for the Nov. 3 election. About 700,000 Georgians have already cast a ballot as of Friday.  

Congressman Mike Collins, a Jackson Republican who has been trailing Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the polls, was effusive in his praise of the president.

“I want to do something real quick, and that’s just to tell you personally, personally, not just from me, but from everybody in here and across the state and across this country, sir, we appreciate your leadership, your backbone, your standing up for America and putting America first,” Collins said to Trump on stage. “Sir, you are giving the next generation the opportunity to chase their version of the American dream. Thank you.”

Rick Jackson, a wealthy healthcare executive who is running for governor, was more reserved.

“I’m running to help vulnerable people, I call them the least of these,” said Jackson, who has made his rise from a difficult childhood to a successful businessman a key part of his campaign pitch. “And there’s never been a president who has done more for foster children that are abused and neglected than this man here. And on behalf of all foster children, I want to thank you, Mr. President, for caring about our vulnerable children.”

Speaking to reporters before the rally, Collins predicted the president’s visit will help motivate conservative voters.

“This state is red; we just gotta make sure people understand that it’s time to go vote,” he said. “People are just busy, they’re busy with their lives, whether it’s raising kids or working or whatever it may be, and it’s a midterm election. You don’t have that presidential election that’s on the news every night that’s sitting there blinking like a beacon to remind them.”

“That’s why things like this are so important,” he added. “That’s why President Trump, he helps boost the morale and push that momentum, because he shows up, and it’s working. It’s hard work. He doesn’t have to do this.”

Jackson has a slight edge over Bottoms in the governor’s race, but polling shows Ossoff with a steady lead over Collins. University of Georgia political communications professor David Clementson said Collins likely has more to gain and Jackson more to lose from a photo op with the commander in chief.

“Rick Jackson doesn’t need to worry about the strong red, Trump-friendly Dalton area voting for him,” Clementson said. “He needs to be more focused on persuadable swing voters, whereas,  Mike Collins, he wants to run up the margins in Trump country and hope that turnout is depressed in less favorable parts of the state.”

Trump is set to host another Georgia rally in Macon Oct. 24 as he tries to fire up his supporters around the country at a time when Republicans are scrambling to hold onto Congress. 

“You have to pretend I’m on the ballot. OK, the story is this: We get 49% more votes when I’m on the ballot. When I’m not on the ballot – I guess it’s a compliment – but people don’t show up so much,” Trump said Friday.

Former state Sen. Brandon Beach, who is now serving as U.S. treasurer, put it this way: “President Trump may not be on the ballot, but his policies are, and his candidates are, and if you want him to keep winning for you, you need to send him good conservative winning candidates, and that’s what we’re asking you to do.”

Trump repeated false claims about the 2020 election

The last time Trump came to Dalton was in early 2021, the end of his first term, for what was supposed to be a rally for then-Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in a runoff following the 2020 election that Trump lost. 

Perdue and Loeffler went on to lose the runoff to Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Some Georgia Republicans blamed Trump’s talk of a stolen 2020 election for lowering Republican turnout.

Trump echoed those false claims from the rally stage, calling Ossoff an “imposter.” 

“The whole thing was crooked,” Trump said. “But Ossoff lost that election, but they gave it to him because it was a rigged election. That’s the only reason he became a senator. He needed a rigged election.” 

Six years later, multiple recounts and court cases have found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but Trump continues to claim otherwise. Earlier this year, the FBI raided Fulton County’s elections warehouse and seized hundreds of boxes of election documents, and then later assigned hundreds of analysts to investigate the records. 

The Georgia State Election Board’s executive director James Mills wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Blanche requesting federal “intervention.” Trump has flirted with the idea but did not bring it up during Friday’s rally.

Does Trump help or hurt Georgia Republicans? 

A Civiqs poll puts Trump at 33% approval in Georgia. The war in Iran and other issues have put the president at odds with members of his own party, Clementson said.

“There are certain elements of the Republican base who are disappointed that he’s not coming through on his many campaign promises,” he said. “Inflation has only gotten worse. Russia-Ukraine has only gotten worse. He started a new war with Iran. Gas prices. Electric bills. He hasn’t released all the Epstein files, and so there’s some ambivalence there among his supporters.”

Pundits predict Trump could again lower excitement among moderate voters by drawing attention to the unpopular aspects of his presidency.

Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon said he’s confident the Trump bump Republicans could get among low-propensity conservative voters will outweigh the risk of Democrats tying candidates to him.

“For the last decade, all the Democratic Party has done is define itself in opposition to Donald Trump,” he said. “So I don’t think there’s anything new about that today. But what’s great about him being here is it sends a powerful message to Georgians that we have a chance to win all of these elections.”

Speaking before the rally, Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland, who is a candidate for attorney general who spoke on stage before Trump, said he was not concerned about the campaign of his opponent, Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller, seeking to attack Strickland by tying him to Trump.

“I’m here as Brian Strickland running for attorney general, and my goal is to get in front of as many voters as I can, and I welcome the chance at any opportunity I get,” Strickland said. 

Miller’s campaign immediately fired off a press release after the rally concluded, saying Strickland “revealed himself to be a Trump-backed extremist.” 

State Sen. Greg Dolezal, who is running for lieutenant governor, and state Rep. Tim Fleming, who is running to be state’s next top election official, also had a speaking slot and received on-stage shoutouts from Trump. 

“Election integrity is not optional; it’s a daily duty we owe to every legal voter and to every patriot who came before us,” Fleming said in a speech before also blasting his opponent from the stage. 

Penny Brown Reynolds, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state, likewise used Fleming’s appearance against him. 

“My opponent has shown Georgians that his true loyalties will always rest with President Donald Trump and those who seek to undermine the integrity of Georgia’s elections,” Brown Reynolds said in a statement Friday night.

Democrats amplify calls to vote like Trump is on the ballot 

In a Friday morning press conference, Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey attacked Jackson and Collins ahead of their participation in the rally and sought to attach both candidates to Trump, saying that their policies have been harmful to Georgians.

“The Trump-Collins-Jackson ticket ought to take credit,” Bailey said. “They ought to take credit for what they’ve done to the people of Georgia, what they’ve done to the people of this country, and the back-breaking, cost-raising, foolish agenda that has made the American dream less attainable now in our great state than it’s been in over two decades,”

Bailey specifically attacked Collins for staffing scandals he’s faced over his campaign, saying that Georgia voters will reject him for being too “weak” to distance himself from former staffers that have been accused of antisemitism. He pointed to Collins’ staunch support for Trump and his votes to advance policies that he said are making life unaffordable for Georgians.

“There’s no reason to be confused about why his campaign is floundering in these times, and that the people of Georgia, Democrats, independents, and a lot of Republicans are rejecting it,” Bailey said.

His attack on Jackson was just as sharp, calling the Republican for governor “another creepy billionaire that has made a career off of taxpayer dollars” and that even though he entered the race as an outsider, he has been “one of the biggest Republican donors of the past two and a half decades.” 

Jackson’s Democratic opponent, Keisha Lance Bottoms, in a press conference Thursday night also criticized Jackson for his plan to join Trump Friday. She said that despite the Jackson campaign’s outsized spending, the race remains close and that she was encouraged by record-breaking early voting numbers. And she said that Trump’s visit might motivate even more people to vote early against Republican policies.

“If Rick Jackson believes that Trump is going to motivate voters in Georgia, he’s absolutely right. He’s going to motivate people to go to the polls, who are going to imagine that Donald Trump is on the ballot, and the people of Georgia are going to vote accordingly,” Bottoms said.

Georgia Recorder editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report.