DALTON, Ga. — President Donald Trump took his midterm campaign blitz to Georgia on Friday and rallied with top Republicans in a state that has long been the epicenter of false claims about 2020 election fraud — claims he continues to repeat.
In Dalton, part of the heart of conservative northwest Georgia, Trump praised Senate candidate Mike Collins and gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson as part of a larger White House effort to boost GOP enthusiasm in an election that could reshape the final years of his second presidency.
“You have to pretend I'm on the ballot,” Trump said as at least one man in the crowd cried “Trump 2028.” Later, he predicted, "On election night, Georgia is going to prove that America does not belong to those who hate us.”
Georgia is a critical battleground, unlike many of the solidly Republican states that Trump has recently visited, such as Alabama, Montana and Tennessee. That means Jackson, a billionaire businessman, and Collins, a two-term congressman, will likely need more than Trump stalwarts to defeat their respective Democratic opponents, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Sen. Jon Ossoff.
When protesters decrying the Trump administration’s immigration policies interrupted his speech, the president suggested that “left-wing loser” Ossoff had paid the demonstrators to cause a scene.
Trump spent more of his speech decrying top Democrats, defending the war in Iran and promoting his U.S.-Mexico border policies rather than talking about Georgia Republicans.
“It's the most successful two years of a presidency," he said.
When Trump later invited Jackson to the stage, the gubernatorial candidate’s appearance was very brief and featured him thanking Trump for his work on behalf of “all foster children” and “for caring about our vulnerable children.” That was a far cry from a promise he made at an earlier rally when he pointed at the president and said he’d be “this guy’s favorite governor.”
Democratic candidates said they were happy Trump visited
The rally was the first time Jackson and Collins appeared at the same venue this fall. That’s a contrast to Ossoff’s and Bottoms’ multiple joint rallies.
Ossoff said he was “surprised Georgia Republicans want the president here,” saying it would remind voters that Trump and his party had pushed policies that have “driven the cost of groceries, fuel and healthcare to their all-time highs,” Ossoff said.
Bottoms also seemed thrilled.
“When Donald Trump says he wants people to imagine that he is on the ballot, I am asking the people of Georgia to do just that,” she said, pointing to Jackson's promise to be Trump's “favorite governor.”
The risks have been evident even in the deeply conservative part of Georgia where Trump spoke. The president won the district by about 37 points in 2024, but in an April special election to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican Rep. Clay Fuller won by only 12 points.
Some rallygoers don’t understand frustrations over the economy
People attending Friday's event nonetheless said they believe Trump has done better on kitchen table issues than his low national approval ratings suggest.
“I think it’s a heck of a lot better than it was under Joe Biden. That’s for sure. Or any other Democrat president for that matter,” said Dianne Leveridge, who said she voted for Trump three times and would do it again if she could.
Leveridge acknowledged high gas prices but said “the oil companies aren’t playing fair.”
Cindy Massengill, 67, said Trump is “doing as good as he can do with the fight he has to fight” against “the people in office that are fighting him,” despite Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress.
Trump had been to Dalton before, last coming on Jan. 4, 2021, the day before Ossoff and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won concurrent Senate runoffs. He had already lost the presidential campaign to Joe Biden but was unwilling to accept it.
“There is no way we lost Georgia. There’s no way,” Trump said that day. “That was a rigged election but we’re still fighting it.”
On Friday, he again suggested he carried Georgia six years ago, falsely claiming “it was a rigged election.”
Election denial continues to linger in Georgia
Collins was elected to Congress in 2022, and he's echoed Trump's lies about 2020. He declined to recant those views this week when Ossoff pressed him during a debate. “There was a lot of doubt in that election. Yes, Joe Biden was the president,” Collins said, without saying Biden was duly elected.
Trump endorsed Collins days before his June runoff victory over former football coach Derek Dooley. When announcing his decision, Trump complained that Dooley had conceded that Biden was elected legitimately.
Gov. Brian Kemp did not endorse Collins until September, and he warned voters during the primary that the congressman could not win in November.
Trump did not endorse Jackson until after he'd won a Republican primary runoff over the president's original pick, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who had been part of Trump's effort to overturn Biden's victory. The president cited Jones' loyalty in his endorsement.
As he failed to do Friday, Jackson doesn’t regularly mention Trump, a break from what he did during the primary campaign. Lately, he's more likely to compare himself to Kemp.
But the governor wasn't with his fellow Republicans on Friday, according to his top political adviser.
“He has a family obligation that day,” said Cody Hall.
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Weissert reported from Washington.