Michelle Obama to Rally People to 'Do Something' By Voting as Jill Biden Wraps Up Five-state Tour
Plus, Melania Trump makes a rare appearance during the campaign with her husband at Al Smith dinner in New York City.
After exhorting voters to “do something” at the Democratic National Convention in August, former First Lady Michelle Obama will step out on the campaign trail in Michigan and Atlanta, Georgia, rallying support for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris a week before Election Day.
The former first lady announced on her social media Friday morning that she will be joining Harris at a Michigan rally on Oct. 26.
“It’s up to all of us to do everything we can from now until Election Day to get Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House! Whether you are knocking on doors, making calls, or checking in with your friends and neighbors, every action counts,” she said in the post. “There’s no time to waste. Let’s get out there and vote!”
The Oct. 29 rally will be hosted by When We All Vote, the national, nonpartisan voting initiative founded and co-chaired by Obama, will feature celebrity co-chairs and ambassadors, local and national talent and performances and Georgia student leaders, the organization announced Wednesday.
The announcements came as First Lady Dr. Jill Biden wrapped up a five-day, five-state campaign tour for Harris. On Tuesday, Biden spoke at the Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where she refuted “lies” about Harris and touted the vice president’s campaign pledges of going after corporations keeping the costs of goods high after the pandemic, helping Americans buy homes and protecting reproductive rights.
Earlier that day, the first lady attended a Pennsylvania State Education Association phone bank event in Westchester County, Pennsylvania, where the first lady took to the phones asking people to come out and volunteer. After the first few phone calls, Biden paused and noted she “was getting a lot of volunteers.”
Later on Thursday, Melania Trump accompanied former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to the 79th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City. Her appearance was the first time she has been seen along her husband’s side at a political event since July.
The upcoming When We All Vote rally aims to bring first-time voters, including Atlanta-area college students and high school students from the organization’s My School Votes program, to infuse their energy and voices from the rally to the polls.
“The election doesn’t start on Election Day—it ends on Election Day. Thanks to our Georgia partners and volunteers who continue to make sure their communities are ready to vote, Georgia voters are fired up and ready to use their voices, said Beth Lynk, Executive Director of When We All Vote, in a statement. “Mrs. Obama, our co-Chairs and ambassadors, and voters will all come together at this rally to celebrate Georgia. Together, we will take our momentum and energy to the ballot box and set the tone for the entire country—specially first-time voters—to vote early.”
Georgia is considered a hotly contested battleground state and had already reported record voter turnout earlier this week with 328,000 ballots cast on Tuesday when early voting got underway, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
In 2020, Georgia’s presidential race was decided by about 12,000 votes, and since late July, more than 40,000 new voters registered in Georgia alone, including a 76% voter registration spike for first-time voters under 30, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The rally will be livestreamed. Which celebrities will attend the rally had yet to be announced. However, the group’s co-chairs include professional basketball players Stephen Curry and Chris Paul; musical artists Becky G, H.E.R., Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez and Janelle Monáe; beauty influencer Bretman Rock; and actors Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kerry Washington, according to The Associated Press.
The group has hosted more than 500 “Party at the Polls” events in Georgia and across the country in the form of pop-up block parties to music festivals to energize voters and to turn early voting into a celebration by bringing communities together to cast their ballots early.
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