Former President Donald Trump held a rally in Tempe, Arizona, and later will be holding one in Las Vegas on Thursday. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris Thursday night held a rally in the Atlanta suburbs with former President Barack Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen, among others.
About 20,000 people attended Harris’s Georgia rally, her campaign said, which would make it her largest political rally yet, besting the 17,000 that Harris drew in Greensboro, North Carolina, in early September.
It is the latest attempt by the Harris campaign to capitalize on the backing of movie and music stars to rally voters in the closing days of a tight election race against Trump.
On Friday, she will appear with Beyonce in Houston.
Harris’s whirlwind campaign started with a big jump in polls after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July, but her lead has narrowed in national polls and evaporated in the battleground states that will decide the election.
Celebrity endorsers add cultural cachet to candidates, and have typically helped campaigns raise money, turn out crowds at rallies and generate excitement on social media. For both the Harris and Trump campaigns, they are part of the down-to-the-wire blitz to mobilize voters ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.
Thursday’s rally also marks the first time Harris and Obama campaign together. Harris is slated to appear with Michelle Obama on Saturday in Michigan, one of seven swing states expected to decide the winner.
The latest polls in Georgia show Trump with a slight lead, but Harris campaign officials say they remain confident the state, along with its neighbor North Carolina, are still in play come November.
Some 1.9 million residents have already cast their ballot in Georgia, according to the secretary of state’s office.
On Monday, Springsteen, 75, will also appear in Philadelphia with Obama.
In 2016, Springsteen played a three-song set at a rally in front of 20,000 people at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on the eve of the election. In 2008, Springsteen played a seven-song set for tens of thousands on the city’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway to urge people to register and vote for Obama.
Taylor Swift, Pink, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Lizzo, and many other celebrities have endorsed Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. Swift’s endorsement of Harris via an Instagram post this September has now received more than 11 million likes.
Trump supporters from the entertainment world include musicians Ted Nugent, Kid Rock and Jason Aldean, wrestler Hulk Hogan, who spoke at this summer’s Republican National Convention, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, actor Dennis Quaid, and TV star Amber Rose.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.