Former President Barack Obama is traveling around the country to rally voters for the midterm elections. The 44th President recently early voted with wife Michelle Obama in Chicago. After completing his duties as a voter, he appeared with Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock in Georgia on Friday.
In addition to the Abrams rally, other organizers, like the groups behind the Votelanta Music Festival, are coming up with creative ways to increase voter engagement in the critical midterm elections.
Friday’s Votelanta Music Festival will feature headline performances by Atlanta natives Gucci Mane and Omeretta (who will let you know what’s NOT Atlanta).
Pizza to the Polls also sponsored the event by providing free pizza for attendees.
Obama arrived with the goal of using his star power within the party — mainly among young and Black voters — to motivate Georgians to turn out and keep the state “blue” after it voted to elect President Joe Biden and two Democratic senators in the 2020 election.
“I am here to ask you to vote,” he told a cheering audience, which broke out into chants of “Yes, we can!” — his presidential campaign slogan — immediately as he took the stage. “You can vote right now.”
On another side of town, Obama will join Georgia Democrats to mobilize the state, where Senator Raphael Warnock is working to defend his Senate seat from challenger Herschel Walker. The Atlanta pastor is among the many Black candidates campaigning to maintain the Democrats’ majority in the Senate.
ESSENCE’s October digital cover star Stacey Abrams is vying to become the state’s first Black governor in a competitive race against incumbent Brian Kemp.
Ahead of his appearance in Georgia, Obama noted the urgency of the midterm elections in a video message, stating that “the power to protect reproductive rights and codify Roe is in our hands, we just have to use it.”
Long lines formed hours before the Obama rally in College Park, Georgia, as evident from Abrams’ Twitter feed.
The lines may reflect the level of enthusiasm that’s already in The Peach State. Reports show that early voting in 2022 is up 159% compared to the same period in 2018. A record-breaking 1 million voters have already gone to the polls before the Nov. 8 election day.
