CLARKSTON, Ga. – The 44th President of the United States finished his speech and grabbed the right arm of the first female Vice President of the United States. He raised her arm to the sky, and more than 20,000 supporters inside a high school football stadium in a small town cheered in unison.
United States Vice President Kamala Harris returned to Georgia for what, at least on paper, looked like the biggest rally of the Democratic presidential campaign. There have been large crowds in Atlanta, Savannah, Cobb County, and even in little old Liberty County, but this was different, if nothing else, because the guests she was planning to bring on stage with her at James R. Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, a small city in DeKalb County, were larger than life.
“Make no mistake, we will win, or as a certain former President once said, yes, we can,” Harris said.
The stadium has a capacity 15,000, but that doesn’t include risers and folding chairs on the field. There were reports of more than 20,000 people at the rally. By the time the rally began, there wasn’t room for another folding chair on the field or another person in the stands. By the looks of it, this was the largest rally of the campaign thus far.
Harris would take the stage with Obama for the first time during this run for the White House. The two have been good friends for decades, dating back to when Harris knocked on doors for him in California during Obama’s first presidential run. Along with Obama, singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen, actor and director Tyler Perry, award-winning actor and Morehouse College alum Samuel L. Jackson, and director and New York Knicks and Liberty super-fan Spike Lee were along for the ride.
The list of people who met the Vice President at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was almost as long as the guest list for her rally. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Congresswoman Lucy McBath, and Congresswoman Nikema Williams were among the welcome party. McBath even wore a pink Rosie the Riveter/Kamala Harris t-shirt for the occasion.
Harris spoke for several minutes about her plans for the American economy and taking on price-gouging, as she has done on the campaign trail many times. It was a familiar song for anyone who has ever heard her speak, but the star power on stage Thursday night was an entirely different song.
Though advertised for an evening start, the line for supporters snaked around the block adjacent to the stadium, a local property used for football games and high school graduations. Like Stonecrest and Jonesboro last Sunday, Clarkston was a different place to hold events and rallies. Still, their respective counties, DeKalb and Clayton, were among the many in Georgia that turned in big numbers of early voters during the first 10 days of the early voting period. As of Thursday afternoon, Georgia had just over two million votes cast.
“We cannot be hoodwinked, led astray,” said Lee during his time on the stage. “Sisters and brothers now is the time to choose our way forward. This is a life and death situation.”
Lee left the stage holding a pair of Kamala Harris campaign signs above his head.
DeKalb County CEO Michale Thurmond was clear about who was voting for this election season: “I am a Black man, and I am all in for Kamala Harris,” he said. “DeKalb is one of the bluest and Democratic counties in the United States of America.”
Congressman Hank Johnson took the stage after Thurmond and made a point to say it was no mistake that Harris was holding a rally in Clarkston, “The Ellis Island of the South.”
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, yet another super-surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign, and Jackson also took the stage during the early stages of the rally.
A few minutes before 7 p.m., Springsteen came on stage and performed a trio of songs; “The Promise Land”, “The Land of Home and Dreams,” and “Dancing in the Dark.”
Before he took his leave, he said, “I want a President who reveres the Constitution, who believes in the rule of law, and the peaceful transfer of power.”
Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock spoke about the rumors of Black men not supporting Harris. “I do not believe significant numbers of Black men are going to vote for the likes of Donald Trump,” Warnock said.
He said there have been times when he has grown weary of the negative political rhetoric. Still, he added that this election is about more than just picking presidents, Senators, and Congressmen and women. He said, “This is a moral moment in America.”
Movie mogul Tyler Perry mau have had the most poignant message of all. He spoke about coming from nothing, finding his calling in Atlanta, and how the Tyler Perry Studios campus in East Point is built on land formerly Fort McPherson, a Confederate army base.