President Donald Trump is set to take the stage in Perry, Georgia, Saturday evening for a midterm rally originally planned for Macon, with remarks scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. as Republicans make a final push before Election Day. The event lands squarely in the middle of Georgia's closing stretch of early voting, with the governor's race and a U.S. Senate contest topping the ballot.
The rally was relocated to the Guardian Center at 600 Perry Parkway, according to walb.com, which reported the move was announced this past week ahead of Saturday's event. Trump is campaigning in support of Republican midterm candidates, the outlet noted, and online registration for the event has been open to the public.
Jackson's Scheduling Reversal
Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee for governor, had initially planned to skip Trump's rally altogether in favor of a campaign stop in suburban Atlanta, according to Georgia Recorder. That plan didn't hold. By Friday, the outlet reported that Jackson had changed course and would now attend both his own rally with Gov. Brian Kemp in Cherokee and Trump's rally in Perry — a reversal the Recorder detailed in a follow-up report noting, “Rick will now be able to attend both his rally with Gov. Kemp in Cherokee and the president's rally in Perry.”
It isn't the first time Jackson and Trump have shared a stage this month. Jackson appeared alongside the president at a rally in Dalton on Oct. 16, according to the same Georgia Recorder report, as part of a broader campaign push across the state. Atlanta News First, which Atlanta News First is covering as a developing story, plans to carry Saturday's event and Trump's remarks live on its ANF+ streaming service.
A Tight Race Entering Its Final Days
The governor's race between Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has been rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, per Georgia Recorder's earlier reporting, and polling averages cited by the outlet now show the contest as a virtual tie heading into the final stretch. Early voting runs through next week, with Election Day falling on Nov. 3.
Georgia Recorder also cited a Civiqs poll putting Trump's approval rating in the state at 33%, alongside an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll finding that 55% of likely Georgia voters disapprove of his job performance. Those numbers arrive as turnout patterns diverge sharply across the state.
Turnout Splits Along Geographic Lines
Early voting is surging in Georgia's suburbs while lagging in rural stretches of the state, according to ajc.com. In the 132 counties Trump carried in 2024, early turnout is essentially flat compared with the same point in the 2022 midterms, the paper reported, while the 27 counties that backed Kamala Harris in 2024 have seen ballots cast climb 9% over the same stretch. Cobb and Gwinnett counties are running roughly 15% ahead of their 2022 pace, with Cherokee and Forsyth posting even larger increases, per the same report.
Saturday's rally is one stop in a crowded closing sprint for both parties. Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to campaign in metro Atlanta on Oct. 28 for Sen. Jon Ossoff and Bottoms, according to Atlanta News First, while former Vice President Kamala Harris is set to deliver the keynote at a Fulton County Democratic fundraiser alongside Ossoff on Oct. 30. Vice President JD Vance had already made his own trip to the state the previous week, speaking to supporters at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the station reported.
