DALTON, Ga. — President Donald Trump is back in Georgia on Friday, headlining a campaign rally in Dalton as the state’s nationally watched midterm races enter their final stretch and early voting ramps up.

The event is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Dalton Municipal Airport in heavily conservative northwest Georgia, a region that has long been central to Trump’s political strength and his claims of widespread election fraud.

It’s his third visit to the state this year, following stops in Rome in February and at Wheeler High School in Cobb County in July. He last appeared in Dalton on Jan. 4, 2021, on the eve of Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs.

The White House said late Friday morning that former University of Georgia Bulldogs star running back Todd Gurley will fly with Trump on Air Force One ahead of the rally.

Today’s visit comes as early voting, which began Tuesday and runs through Oct. 30, is underway ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Spotlight on Collins–Ossoff and Jackson–Bottoms matchups

Dalton sits in the heart of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, where Republican Rep. Clay Fuller — who won a special election earlier this year after former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned — faces Democratic challenger Shawn Harris. Fuller is expected to appear at the rally.

Trump will also share the stage with GOP Senate candidate Mike Collins and Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson, part of a broader push by the White House to energize Republican voters in a battleground where Democrats have made significant gains.

“President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.

Collins is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, whose bid for a second term is seen as crucial to Democrats maintaining their Senate edge. Jackson, a billionaire businessman, is running to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and faces Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta.

Republican candidates for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general are also on the ballot Nov. 3, though those statewide contenders are not all expected to appear with Trump. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr — all Republicans — launched unsuccessful bids for governor earlier in the cycle.

Democrats see Trump as a foil

Democrats are seizing on Trump’s presence, arguing it underscores what’s at stake.

“I’m surprised Georgia Republicans want the president here,” Ossoff said, adding that Trump’s visit reminds voters that Trump and Collins have backed policies that “have driven the cost of groceries, fuel and healthcare to their all-time highs.”

During a recent debate, Ossoff pressed Collins on Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election. Collins, elected to Congress in 2022, acknowledged Joe Biden is president but echoed Trump’s baseless doubts, saying there was “a lot of doubt in that election” without affirming Biden was duly elected.

Trump endorsed Collins days before his June runoff victory over former football coach Derek Dooley, citing Dooley’s admission that Biden legitimately won. Kemp did not endorse Collins until September and had warned primary voters that Collins could struggle in November.

Bottoms also welcomed Trump’s visit, pointing to Jackson’s pledge on the trail to be “Trump’s favorite governor,” a line she repeatedly attacked during a recent gubernatorial town hall hosted by Atlanta News First.

“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,” Bottoms said, arguing Jackson would align the Governor’s Mansion closely with the president.

Republicans balance embrace and distance

The Dalton rally marks the first time this fall that Jackson and Collins have appeared at the same venue, after largely running separate campaigns. That contrasts with Ossoff and Bottoms, who have been holding joint rallies across the state, with another scheduled Saturday in Cobb County.

Collins has faced lackluster fundraising and a series of controversies that have led some Republicans to question his viability against Ossoff. Jackson, meanwhile, has focused on sharing the stage with other statewide GOP hopefuls and party leaders; many have promoted him without even mentioning Collins.

“That was not a neglect,” former Agriculture Secretary and ex-Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said after a previous Jackson event where Collins did not appear. “I think it was really respecting a Rick Jackson event and focusing on his election as governor.”

Trump himself initially backed Kemp ally Burt Jones in the governor’s race, praising Jones’ efforts to help overturn Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia, before endorsing Jackson only after he had defeated Jones in a runoff. Jackson no longer invokes Trump as often as he did during the primary, now more likely to compare himself to Kemp than to the president.

Kemp is not expected at Friday’s rally. “He has a family obligation that day,” top adviser Cody Hall said.

Election denial still lingers over Georgia

Trump’s return to Dalton revives memories of his January 2021 rally there, when he falsely insisted, “There is no way we lost Georgia. That was a rigged election but we’re still fighting it,” one day before Ossoff and fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock won their Senate runoff races.

The 14th District has reflected shifting attitudes toward Trump’s brand of politics. Voters there first sent Marjorie Taylor Greene — once a staunch Trump ally — to Congress, but she eventually broke with the president and resigned. Trump carried the district by about 37 points in 2024; Greene’s last margin there was 29 points, and Fuller won the April special election to replace her by just 12 points.

Georgia’s statewide races this fall will test whether Trump’s coattails remain an asset in a battleground state where his election denialism and polarizing rhetoric continue to energize supporters and galvanize opponents — and where both parties agree the outcome could shape the final years of his second term in the White House.

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