Georgia Is Telling Two Stories. Republicans Can Still Write the Ending in One of Them

Jon Ossoff leads Mike Collins for Senate, but the governor's race between Rick Jackson and Keisha Lance Bottoms is dead even. Obama's stop in Clayton County today shows where Democrats are worried.

By Clara Hughes

Barack Obama is back in Georgia today. The former president is headlining a rally in Clayton County, a deep-blue part of metro Atlanta, with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Former Vice President Kamala Harris also begins a three-day swing through the state today. Democrats do not send their two biggest names into Georgia six days out because they feel comfortable. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the visit is aimed at a specific weak spot: early voting has been strong in the suburbs, but it "hasn't been as robust in Atlanta's urban core." Early in-person voting ends Friday. That is the backdrop for a state that is now telling two very different stories about Nov. 3. Story one: the Senate race A year ago, as the AJC put it, Ossoff was "considered the most vulnerable incumbent in the U.S. Senate." He was the only Democrat facing reelection in a state President Trump won in 2024. The polls now say something different.