DALTON, Ga. — President Donald Trump brought his midterm campaign tour to northwest Georgia on Friday, using a rally at Dalton Municipal Airport to urge voters to back Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins and governor nominee Rick Jackson less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 election.
Most of the roughly hour-and-a-half speech was aimed at Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, whom Collins is trying to unseat. Trump again claimed the 2020 election in Georgia was stolen and argued Ossoff owed his seat to it. Multiple recounts and audits found no widespread fraud in that election, and the president faced, and later saw dropped, state charges tied to efforts to overturn it.
The president also leaned on an economic message, pointing to factory investments in the state by drugmaker UCB, tire maker Pirelli and Hyundai as proof his policies are bringing manufacturing jobs to Georgia. He warned that those gains would be at risk if Democrats won control of either chamber of Congress. He also defended U.S. military action against Iran, a war Collins supports and Ossoff has criticized over its toll on prices and lives.
Trump called Collins and Jackson to the stage one at a time. Collins promised the crowd a senator who would stand with the president. Jackson kept his remarks short, speaking about growing up in foster care, while Trump went after Democratic governor nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor. Jackson has lately tied himself more closely to Gov. Brian Kemp than to Trump.
A small group of protesters holding signs against immigration enforcement briefly interrupted the event before being escorted out.
The Ossoff campaign said in a statement that Trump was repeating debunked election claims while ignoring the cost-of-living pressures on Georgia families, and said voters would hold Collins accountable at the polls.
Polling averages show Ossoff ahead of Collins by about 8 points, while Jackson holds a narrow edge over Bottoms. Bottoms and Ossoff scheduled a joint rally in Cobb County for Saturday.
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