Trump campaigns in Georgia for Collins and Jackson as early voting tops 1.6 million

By Teresa Valdane

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump campaigned in Perry, Ga., on Saturday for Rep. Mike Collins and Rick Jackson, the Republican nominees for Senate and governor, urging supporters to turn out 10 days before an election in which Georgia’s early vote has already passed 1.6 million ballots.

“With these two people, it’s going to boom like never before, and I’m going to help them make it, I’m going to help them make it boom,” Trump told the crowd at the Georgia National Fairgrounds, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. He called Collins “one of the most respected people in Washington” and said the congressman would “protect borders, safety, culture, religion and heritage.”

Trump used the rally to announce that Audi will build a roughly $4 billion assembly plant near Macon, which he attributed to his trade and tariff policies, the station reported. The Inquisitor’s report on the plant has details from Audi and Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.

The Washington Inquisitor is seeking comment from the White House on the president’s closing message in Georgia.

The candidates

Collins is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. “Help me get there and I’ll continue to deliver more affordable, more prosperous Georgia, and we will haul the trust fund kid out of there,” Collins said at the rally, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

Jackson, who is running to succeed the term-limited Kemp, told the crowd: “I don’t have anything to prove I really don’t, but I have a lot to give and that’s why I’m running. I need your votes.” Trump praised his biography, saying Jackson “started as a foster child and became worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Earlier Saturday, Jackson campaigned with Kemp and first lady Marty Kemp in Canton, the station reported.

The Democratic response

Ossoff and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg held a canvass launch in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon focused on health care and living costs, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

The campaign of Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee for governor and a former Atlanta mayor, responded to the rally. “The first thing Keisha Lance Bottoms will do as governor is take action to expand Medicaid. The first thing Rick Jackson will do is call his boss, Donald Trump,” spokesperson TaNisha Cameron said in a statement reported by the station.

Polls and money

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll of 1,000 likely voters, conducted by the University of Georgia from Oct. 7 to 15, found Jackson at 46 percent and Bottoms at 45 percent, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, the AJC reported. The same poll gave Ossoff an eight-point lead over Collins, 48 percent to 40 percent, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

Ossoff holds a large financial advantage. His campaign reported $15.1 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 14 in its pre-general filing with the Federal Election Commission, compared with $1.1 million for Collins’s campaign, according to Collins’s report. Outside groups are not included in those figures.

Early voting

More than 1.6 million Georgians have voted since early voting opened Oct. 13, and in-person early voting continues through Friday, Oct. 30, according to FOX 5 Atlanta, citing data from the Georgia secretary of state’s office. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Trump himself voted early on Saturday, casting his ballot in person with first lady Melania Trump at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office in West Palm Beach before flying to Georgia, the Associated Press reported. Asked whether he voted the party line, he said, “Very much so.”

The Inquisitor is also seeking comment from Ossoff’s office, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Republican National Committee. This story will be updated with any responses.

Photo: Rep. Mike Collins’s official portrait. United States Congress, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.