By Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose
CLARKSTON, Georgia (Reuters) -Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris basked in the support of rock legend Bruce Springsteen, entertainer Tyler Perry and former President Barack Obama on Thursday at a rally that drew thousands in the battleground state of Georgia.
Seeking to excite supporters in a state that could help determine the winner of the 2024 election, the U.S. vice president and her high-profile endorsers urged the crowd to take advantage of early voting, and to reject her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.
“We here understand we have an opportunity before us to turn the page on the fear and divisiveness that have characterized our politics for a decade because of Donald Trump,” Harris said. “Please vote early.”
Obama, who has been campaigning in multiple swing states for Harris, made his case against Trump, arguing the former president thought about no one but himself.
He implied that Trump was acting like a doddering old man and, in a reference to Trump’s recent event at a McDonald’s, noted that Harris had actually worked at the fast food chain earlier in her life.
“She worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay her expenses. She didn’t pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed,” Obama said.
Ahead of Harris’ remarks, film director Spike Lee warned a packed crowd at the James R. Hallford Stadium not to be “bamboozled” into voting for the Republican nominee.
Springsteen, who performed melancholy laments “The Promised Land” and “Land of Hope and Dreams”, warned Trump was running to be a tyrant.
“He does not understand this country, its history or what it means to be American,” Springsteen said.
About 20,000 people attended the Georgia rally, Harris’ campaign said, which would make it her largest political rally yet, besting the 17,000 she drew in Greensboro, North Carolina, in early September.
As Harris spoke, a noticeable number of people who had been sitting for hours began to leave their seats and make their ways to the exits, leaving pockets of empty seats in what was once a packed house.
The rally represented the latest attempt by the Harris campaign to capitalize on the backing of movie and music stars to mobilize voters in the closing days of a tight election race.
On Friday, she will appear with Beyonce in Houston.
TIGHT RACE
Harris’ whirlwind campaign started with a big jump in polls after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July, but her lead has narrowed in national polls and evaporated in the battleground states that will decide the U.S. election.
Celebrity endorsers add cultural cachet to candidates, and have typically helped campaigns raise money, turn out crowds at rallies and generate excitement on social media.
For both the Harris and Trump campaigns, they are part of the down-to-the-wire blitz to mobilize voters ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.
Thursday’s rally also marked the first time Harris and Obama campaigned together. Harris is slated to appear with Michelle Obama on Saturday in Michigan, one of seven swing states expected to decide the winner. Both Obamas spoke in favor of Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August.
The latest polls in Georgia show Trump with a slight lead, but Harris campaign officials say they remain confident the state, along with its neighbor North Carolina, are still in play.
Biden pulled off a surprise victory in Georgia in 2020, and Democrats won two hard-fought Senate seats there that gave them control of both houses in Congress for the first half of Biden’s term.
Some 1.9 million residents have already cast their ballot in Georgia, according to the secretary of state’s office.
On Monday, Springsteen, 75, will also appear in Philadelphia with Obama.
In 2016, Springsteen played a three-song set at a rally in front of 20,000 people at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on the eve of the election. In 2008, Springsteen played a seven-song set for tens of thousands on the city’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway to urge people to register and vote for Obama.
Taylor Swift, Pink, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Lizzo and many other celebrities have endorsed Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. Swift’s endorsement of Harris via an Instagram post this September has now received more than 11 million likes.
Trump supporters from the entertainment world include musicians Ted Nugent, Kid Rock and Jason Aldean, wrestler Hulk Hogan, who spoke at this summer’s Republican National Convention, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, actor Dennis Quaid, and TV star Amber Rose.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Nandita Bose and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mary Milliken, Heather Timmons, Deepa Babington, Nick Zieminski, David Gregorio, Leslie Adler and Lincoln Feast.)
