Kamala Harris' presidential campaign has deployed Bill Clinton in key states with 22 days until Election Day.
Former president campaigned for Harris Speaking to worshipers at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, Sunday. The Harris campaign announced Thursday that Clinton will headline a bus tour of eastern North Carolina this week.
Harris and former President Trump visited the Tar Heel State following Hurricane Helen.
Clinton's bus trip comes after Harris held a rally at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, on Sunday.
“Bringing people together and building them up, being a repairer of breaches, as Isaiah said, that’s what works,” Clinton said Sunday at Mount Zion Baptist Church. “Blaming, dividing, belittling – they generate a lot of votes during elections, but they don’t work.”
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Former President Bill Clinton speaks in support of Harris Walz's presidential campaign during the Fort Valley GOTV Community Fish Fry at the Agricultural Technology Conference Center on October 13, 2024 in Fort Valley, Georgia. (Julia Beverly/Getty Images)
“This entire election and the future of the country will be whether people are on the fence about voting what they will do in the next three and a half weeks,” Clinton added, addressing the congregation.
Although the black church was not completely packed, a large crowd gave Clinton a standing ovation, according to the Associated Press. Many of the participants were elderly, but some young people were scattered around the benches.
Albany was an early battleground in the fight for civil rights. The city gained national attention in 1961 and 1962 when hundreds of protesters, including Martin Luther King Jr., were arrested and jailed.
Former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Congressman Sanford Bishop speak at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Albany on Sunday, October 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlotte Cramon)
Clinton, who was governor of Arkansas before becoming president, also spoke at Harris' campaign office in Albany, saying she asked the campaign to send her to rural areas where she feels more at home.
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The 42nd president's visit to the two swing states serves as a new effort by the Harris-Walz campaign to appeal to rural voters, who have traditionally voted Republican in recent presidential elections.
The Trump campaign began a three-day bus trip through North Carolina last week, along with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. Representative Alice StefanikRN.Y. and several former Trump administration officials are campaigning for the Republican presidential candidate.
Former President Bill Clinton speaks at Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign launch in Albany, Georgia, Sunday, October 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlotte Cramon)
Democrats see Clinton as someone who can rally both rural and black voters. But while Clinton has been recognized for her popularity in the Southern black community, it remains to be seen whether she can still inspire black voters as the demographic familiar with her presidency grows, according to the AP.
Georgia is a Seven of the states seen as pivotal in this year's presidential race, and the turnout of black voters could be key to Democrats winning the state's 16 electoral votes.
President Biden won Georgia in 2020 by 11,779 votes out of more than 5 million cast, according to the AP. This is the first time a Democrat has carried the state since Clinton in 1992. Four years later, Clinton was re-elected, losing the state to Republican Bob Dole.
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In 1992, Clinton and then-Sen. Al Gore Ride campaign buses through southwest Georgia to rural voters. Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz revived the practice by visiting Savannah and Liberty counties in the southeastern part of the state before the campaign, but did not travel west.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
