The new landscape comes at a critical time for both campaigns in Georgia, the onetime Republican presidential stronghold that has since taken on a shade of purple after backing Biden in 2020 and electing Democrats to the Senate in both 2021 and 2022.

Whereas many Republicans were beginning to see Georgia for the taking due to Biden’s sagging numbers, Harris has given Democrats a jolt of energy in the state. And now, neither side can take this Southern battleground for granted.

Harris has strength with young voters and minorities

Biden in 2020 swept nearly every swing state, boosted by his electoral advantage with young voters and minorities.

In Georgia, Biden’s strong support among these groups, especially with Black voters, helped him win the state by less than one percentage point that year.

But more recently, Biden struggled to rally that base. He was often mired in the low-to-mid 40s in most Georgia polls.

A big part of that slippage was because Trump was winning over an atypical number of Black voters for a GOP presidential candidate, and a chunk of young voters were opting instead for third-party candidates like independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

But Harris has reversed that trend, giving her momentum that had eluded Biden in Georgia this year.

A recent Emerson College/The Hill survey showed Trump with a narrow two-point lead (48% to 46%) over Harris in the Peach State. And the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll taken in Georgia showed Harris and Trump tied at 47% support each among registered voters.

Harris can expand her suburban support

Trump’s allies had long prepared for a rematch with Biden, using a playbook centered on sweeping GOP voters and winning over independents and undecided voters on the economy.

It could have been particularly effective in Atlanta’s suburbs, especially in outer suburban communities where Republicans still dominate in non-federal statewide races.

But Harris’ ascent has thrown those plans into disarray.

Even though Harris is a key part of the Biden administration, she has a chance to reintroduce herself to an electorate that didn’t want a 2020 rematch. Her focus on issues like upholding the Constitution and protecting reproductive rights puts her squarely where a lot of suburban residents are ideologically.

Trump weighed down suburban Republicans across the country in 2016, and in 2018 and 2020 his brand of Republicanism continued to push many suburbs — including those in the Atlanta area — further from their old GOP leanings.

Trump underperformed in many inner suburban Atlanta communities during the March GOP presidential primary, with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley earning thousands of votes even after she had left the race.

A sizable number of these anti-Trump GOP voters could eventually migrate to Harris and give her added support in a region where she’ll also need to perform strongly with Democrats to overcome Trump’s rural strength.

Trump still hasn’t let 2020 go

Elections are about the future. And if Trump holds on to 2020 instead of uniting Georgia Republicans, Harris will likely benefit.

During Trump’s rally on Saturday, he once again lashed out at Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, leaning into the bitterness of the 2020 election that tore apart the GOP.

Trump has long argued, without evidence, that he was the true victor in Georgia that year. But neither Kemp nor Raffensperger would aid Trump in overturning the state’s presidential results, and most Republicans have sought to move beyond the ex-president’s grievances on the issue.

But not Trump.

“He’s a bad guy, he’s a disloyal guy, and he’s a very average governor,” Trump told rally attendees of Kemp on Saturday.

“In my opinion, they want us to lose,” the former president said of Kemp and Raffensperger.

After Trump in a Truth Social post mentioned Kemp’s wife, Marty, by saying he didn’t want the Georgia first lady’s endorsement, the governor told the ex-president on X to “leave my family out of it.”

In 2022, Trump tried to dispatch Kemp and Raffensperger in GOP primaries to no avail, as they defeated MAGA-aligned challengers.

This year, a divided Republican Party headed into November would seriously imperil the party’s chances at flipping the state as the Harris campaign pours time and resources into Georgia.

If Trump can’t even appear in Georgia alongside the state’s popular sitting GOP governor, it could affect organizing and turnout — as Kemp’s get-out-the-vote operation was critical in his reelection victory against Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2022.

Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, on Sunday expressed confidence in Georgia’s election security, a contrast with Trump’s recent attacks against Republican state officials Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

During an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Vance was pressed on how comfortable he is with the progress being made by the Republican National Committee and Republican-led states to ensure a fair election in November as Trump continues to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election results.

Vance pointed to Georgia’s voter ID requirements, which he said makes the battleground state’s elections “much more secure.”

“I think that we’ve got some good court cases, some good legal changes going all across the country,” he said. “The RNC has been more aggressive about this in 2024 than they have been in 2020.”

“The basic principle here is every American citizen’s vote should count. But if you’re not an American citizen and you’re not casting a legal ballot, your vote shouldn’t count, right?” he added. “It’s sort of common sense that the Republican Party believes in.”

Vance has repeatedly echoed Trump’s baseless claims about a rigged 2020 election and has argued that lawmakers would have had legitimate reasons to fight the results. At the time, Trump and his allies filed a series of lawsuits in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results, but none succeeded due to a lack of evidence.

Ahead of the 2024 election, the Trump campaign and the RNC have pledged to enlist 100,000 volunteers and attorneys to monitor votes in battleground states.

In a post to his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump criticized Kemp and Raffensperger, both of whom fought against Trump’s efforts in 2020 to delegitimize the results of the presidential election. Trump wrote that Raffensperger should “do his job” and “make sure this election is not stolen,” while telling Kemp to “focus his efforts on fighting crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican party.”

“He should be seeking UNITY, not Retribution, especially against the man that got him the Nomination through Endorsement and, without whom, he could never have beaten Stacey Abrams,” Trump wrote, referring to Kemp’s Democratic rival in the 2018 and 2022 Georgia governor’s race.

In a phone call to Kemp weeks after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Trump attempted to pressure Kemp to call a special session of the state Legislature in an effort to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in the state.

On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump also called Raffensperger, a Republican, urging the top Georgia election official to “find” the votes to toss out Biden’s victory in the battleground state.

Kemp pushed back on Trump’s attacks in a post to X later Saturday, saying that he is focused on winning in November and “saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats — not engaging in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.”

“You should do the same, Mr. President, and leave my family out of it,” he wrote.

Raffensperger also refuted Trump’s attacks in another post to X saying that the state’s elections were “secure.”

“The winner here in November will reflect the will of the people. History has taught us this type of message doesn’t sell well here in Georgia, sir,” he wrote.

Trump and 18 co-defendants last year were charged with racketeering in connection with their efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case. A Georgia appeals court has paused the case until at least October.

Former President Donald Trump at a rally in Atlanta on Saturday again attacked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the state’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both of whom are Republicans, for their refusal to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in the Peach State.

The governor responded by suggesting Trump should focus on winning in November and refrain from “petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.”

Before the rally, Trump criticized Kemp, a popular Republican governor in a must-win swing state for the Republican White House hopeful, and suggested the governor should be “fighting Crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican Party.” 

Trump also criticized Kemp’s wife, Marty, for saying she would write in her husband’s name for president in November instead of voting for the former president.

“Brad Raffensperger has to do his job, and make sure this Election is not stolen,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Brian Kemp should focus his efforts on fighting Crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican Party! His Crime Rate in Georgia is terrible, his Crime Rate in Atlanta is the worst, and his Economy is average.”

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Kemp has repeatedly been credited for Georgia’s strong economy during his time as governor and his approval rating in the state has soared, with a 63% approval rating in a June poll conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The governor narrowly defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams in the 2018 gubernatorial election after receiving Trump’s endorsement. In 2022, Kemp cruised to a win over Trump-backed former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., in the primary before defeating Abrams by seven and a half points in a rematch in the general election.

“He should be seeking UNITY, not Retribution, especially against the man that got him the Nomination through Endorsement and, without whom, he could never have beaten Stacey Abrams,” Trump wrote. “He and his wife didn’t think he could win. I said, ‘I’m telling you you’re going to win.’ Then he won, he was happy, and his wife said, ‘Thank you Sir, we’ll never be able to make it up to you!’ Now she says she won’t Endorse me, and is going to ‘write in Brian Kemp’s name.’ Well, I don’t want her Endorsement, and I don’t want his.”

“They’re the ones who got Fani Willis and her boyfriend all ‘jazzed up’ and ready to go. He could have ended that travesty with a phone call, but he doesn’t want to end it because he’s a bad guy,” he continued.

Trump was referring to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose office is prosecuting Trump’s election interference case in Georgia, and her controversial relationship with Nathan Wade, who was a prosecutor in the case before resigning earlier this year amid scrutiny over the relationship.

Kemp responded to the former president with a post on the social media platform X, saying: “My focus is on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats – not engaging in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.”

“You should do the same, Mr. President, and leave my family out of it,” Kemp said.

Raffensperger also replied to Trump’s claims in a post of his own.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp looks on during the celebration honoring the Georgia Bulldogs national championship victory on Jan. 15, 2022, in Athens, Georgia.  (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)

“Georgia’s elections are secure,” Raffensperger wrote on X. “The winner here in November will reflect the will of the people. History has taught us this type of message doesn’t sell well here in Georgia, sir.”

Kemp, notably, signed Georgia’s Election Integrity Act into law in 2021 that includes requiring identification to vote, extending the early voting period and ensuring a ballot drop box will be available in every county.

During the rally on Saturday, Trump criticized Kemp in a 10-minute rant over baseless claims the governor was responsible for his loss to Biden and for not stopping Willis from prosecuting the Georgia election interference case. A state commission has powers to discipline and remove prosecutors for not following the law after Kemp signed a bill into law, but the governor does not have the ability to remove prosecutors.

“He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor. Little Brian, little Brian Kemp. Bad guy,” Trump said.

The former president has continued to repeat false claims the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes in 2020, and the former president pressured Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to win. Trump and his allies also attempted to present slates of so-called “fake electors” that could replace the Democratic voters Biden won.

Trump was later indicted in Georgia for attempting to overturn the election, although the case is now on hold as the courts decide whether Willis can continue to prosecute it.

Kemp certified the electors that Biden won in 2020 and rejected efforts by Trump allies to replace them.

JD VANCE CALLS TRUMP’S OFFER TO DEBATE HARRIS ON FOX NEWS ‘MASTERSTROKE’

Brian Kemp, governor of Georgia, speaks during an election night rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The governor did not endorse anyone in this year’s GOP primary but has said he will vote for the Republican ticket in November, as Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee after Biden suspended his re-election campaign, look to win the battleground state of Georgia, which had gone to the Republican presidential candidate every year since 1996 before Biden won it four years ago.

Harris’ campaign correctly predicted before Trump’s rally that he would deny the 2020 election results.

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After the rally, the Harris campaign released a statement from former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who served alongside Kemp during the governor’s first term.

“If you were able to see through Donald Trump’s incoherence and vindictiveness tonight, you saw a Donald Trump who does not care about uniting this country or speaking to the voters who will decide this election,” Duncan said in the statement. “Millions of Americans are fed up with his grievance-filled campaign focused only on himself.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.