ZEBULON, Ga. – Less than two weeks before the election, former President Donald Trump stumbled upon a church in a rural community south of Atlanta before holding a raucous rally in a crowded hall in Gwinnett County, northeast of the city.
Trump’s first stop in Georgia was Zebulun, a compact town of about 1,300 people named after one of the biblical tribes of Israel in Pike County that gave the former president more than 85% of the vote in 2020.
Little Zebulon was the backdrop for a “Believers and Voters” town hall that nominally focused on religious issues and was hosted by Trump’s steadfast ally, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a native of nearby Butts County.
Televangelist Ralph Reed, founder of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, said the evangelical vote could be crucial to deciding the Nov. 5 election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“My organization, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, has already knocked on 7,336,000 doors,” Reed said. “We don’t tell anyone who to vote for, but we sure as hell let them know what the media won’t, which is where these two candidates stand on these issues, taxes, borders, the sanctity of innocent human life, on nuclear agreement with Iran and on standing with Israel.”
Trump fielded amiable questions from members of the supportive audience, which at times interrupted the proceedings with shouts of adulation. No one asked about abortion, a sensitive issue for the former president who is struggling to balance an anti-abortion evangelical electorate with more moderate women’s voters who are often inclined to support abortion access.
In the past, Trump has bragged about appointing Supreme Court justices who helped overturn federal abortion laws, but recently he has sought to portray himself as a more moderate figure, saying his only goal is to return the matter to the states.
Harris says Trump is a fascist and “unfit to serve” at a Pennsylvania town hall
In response to a question about the importance of Christians voting, Trump expressed confidence that the faithful would vote for him and announced his support for religious freedom.
Trump also praised his approach to Israel and criticized President Joe Biden’s approach to the current war in the region. Trump has said that if re-elected, rival nations will be too afraid of him to attack U.S. allies.
“So many people support Israel, so much more than just the Jewish people, it’s so many Christians, they support Israel so much,” Trump said. “And you know, they say, and I want to agree with this 100%, no one has done what I did for Israel.”
After a few more amiable questions, Trump announced he would address the audience outside the venue. A stage was set up behind a side door and Secret Service officers established a security perimeter, allowing Trump to hold a mini rally outside his stop in Duluth, during which he said he was confident about his chances of winning, criticized Harris and expressed sadness that the election was soon will end.
“In many ways it’s sad because we only have 12 days left,” he said. “We’ve been doing this together for nine years and it took us 12 days. We had the biggest rallies, the most handsome people, the most. It was just an amazing thing. There has never been anything like this in the history of the country. “I don’t think something like this has ever happened even in the history of the world.”
But it was also the ticking of the clock that left some political observers perplexed over the Trump campaign’s decision to hold a smaller event targeting evangelicals so close to the election. Voting in Georgia has been underway for over a week and over 2 million ballots have already been cast.
Chris Grant, who heads Mercer University’s political science department, said the move suggests the Trump campaign is trying to boost its support among evangelical voters in most of the country.
“What do you see that makes you think the best option for your principal is to go to a relatively unknown church in a compact town in rural Georgia? That’s weird,” Grant said.
Dueling church performances
Trump’s stop at Christ Chapel in Zebulon came days after Vice President Kamala Harris visited two churches in metro Atlanta as part of a “souls to the polls” campaign aimed at boosting Black voter turnout. Polls suggest black support is down compared to last election.
The two competing campaign events had a stark split screen, with Trump largely sticking to his standard campaign tenets, such as cracking down on illegal immigrants.
“For me, the biggest problem is the border, where they let murderers into our country, they let prisoners into our country, they empty their prisons from all over the world. And for me, that’s the biggest problem we have. I think that’s the number one issue and we’re going to do something. We’re going to do something to stop this very quickly,” Trump said on stage at the church.
In her speech, Harris quoted Scripture from the pulpit and told the parable of the Good Samaritan, prompting someone in the audience to shout, “Preach!” She highlighted examples of Georgians helping each other after Hurricane Helene, which devastated a vast swath of the state.
“Moving forward, let’s look at where we are and understand the lesson of Luke’s Gospel, because now each of us has a chance to make a difference. “Right now, our country is at a crossroads, and it is up to us as Americans and people of faith to decide where we go from there,” Harris said.
“We are faced with the question: which country do we want to live in – a country of chaos, fear and hatred or a country of freedom, compassion and justice?” she added.
Harris is scheduled to campaign with former President Barack Obama in metro Atlanta on Thursday.
Chasing votes
Trump’s stop in Duluth comes about a week after his next rally in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, this time in Cobb County.
The Duluth event was organized by Turning Point Action and Turning Point PAC and featured a long list of conservative stars such as the organization’s founder Charlie Kirk and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, as well as top Trump surrogates such as former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and former Democrat U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard. Country music star and Georgia native Jason Aldean also invited Trump to the stage.
“This election is a choice between four more years of incompetence, failure and disaster, or whether we will enter the four greatest years in the history of our country,” Trump said at Gas South Arena.
At a rally in Duluth, the GOP presidential nominee stuck mostly to familiar topics, especially immigration, during a lengthy, hour-and-a-half speech before a rousing crowd of supporters.
There were cheers, laughter and boos for Harris during the emotional rally, but even longtime fans like Tracy and Jeff Hydock, who live in Cleveland in northern Georgia, say they know that outside the arena, the Georgia race remains competitive.
However, Tracy Hydock, who is a Trump campaign volunteer and longtime supporter, said she believes the high early voting turnout bodes well for Trump.
“I think everyone is just fed up with the bullshit,” she said. “And I think everyone feels like they were cheated last time and that we won’t be cheated this time.”
President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia was upheld after three recounts, including one by hand, and unsuccessful efforts to challenge the results in court.
At a press conference held before Trump’s rally in Duluth, state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, a Democrat from Duluth, and other Georgia Democrats sharply criticized Trump’s record on reproductive rights, including his role in overturning federal abortion rights.
Parkes said she viewed Trump’s visit to Gwinnett County – one of the most diverse counties in the country – as an attempt to reach out to minority communities in Georgia.
“He’s not going to make it one day,” Parkes told reporters on Wednesday.
“These policies and abortion bans disproportionately affect minorities, women of color, and that’s why we’re going to fight and make sure we deliver Gwinnett to Vice President Kamala Harris, and in all of our elections,” she said, referring to state legislative races.
Registrar from Georgia is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. If you have any questions, please contact editor John McCosh: [email protected]. Follow the Georgia Recorder on Facebook AND X.
