Donald Trump, JD Vance to hold rally in Atlanta on Saturday

ATLANTA - Former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance are heading to Atlanta this weekend for their first joint rally in the state.

The Republican Party candidates are scheduled to hold a rally at the Georgia State University Convocation Center on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Trump and Vance's visit will happen days after Vice President Kamala Harris is set to hold a rally at the same location on Tuesday night - her first since President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

The vice president will be joined by hip-hop artist Megan The Stallion at her rally.

In the release announcing the rally, the Trump campaign referred to the death of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was killed this year on the campus of the University of Georgia. A Venezuelan immigrant was arrested and charged with her murder.

US Senator from Ohio and 2024 Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance (R) gives a thumbs up as he shakes hands with US former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during the second day of the 2024 Republican Nat

Expand

Trump had previously mentioned Riley during his speech accepting the Republican Party's presidential nomination. 

Describing Riley as a "brilliant 22-year-old nursing student," Trump placed the blame for Riley's death on Biden, Harris, and the rest of the Democratic Party.

"Yet another American life was stolen by a criminal alien set free by this administration," Trump told the crowd at the RNC. "Tonight, America, this is my vow. I will not let these killers and criminals into our country."

Trump and Vance's rally will begin at 5 p.m. Doors open at 1 p.m. You can sign up for free tickets here.

Georgia remains a battleground state for Harris vs. Trump

Republicans, who still control Georgia’s state government, are hoping that Biden’s lagging popularity and concern over higher consumer prices and immigration would transfer to Harris in the historically conservative state.

But they concede a recent groundswell of support for the expected Democratic candidate has made the political landscape suddenly look much closer to 2020 – when Biden won by about 0.25 percentage points — than when Trump was riding high after the Republican National Convention and surviving an assassination attempt.

The Harris campaign and Georgia Democratic officials have 24 offices across the state, including two added last weekend in metro Atlanta. Trump and the Republican National Committee opened their first Georgia offices only recently.

Democrats are betting that a combination of high turnout among traditional, core Democratic constituencies, as well as a strong showing in the suburbs and small pickups elsewhere will be enough for Harris to carry Georgia. That approach was on display at the weekend office openings.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a recent interview that the best GOP campaigns can win comfortably in Georgia but bad efforts — combined with strong Democratic campaigns — lose. Kemp, for example, won reelection by 7.5 percentage points in 2022 over national Democratic star Stacey Abrams. Yet in the same election cycle, Georgians reelected Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock over his Republican challenger Herschel Walker, who was endorsed by Trump.

In recent elections, Democrats have held wide advantages in the core of metro Atlanta. The party also performed well in Columbus and Savannah, as well as some rural, majority-Black counties. But Republicans dominated in other rural areas, small towns and small cities –- where Trump has held multiple rallies in recent years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.