President Barack Obama rallies Atlanta voters with Sen. Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms at United for Georgia campaign event on Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026.
(Photos provided with permissions from Che Harmon Williams | The Maroon Tiger)
The Arena at Southlake in Clayton County on Wednesday evening was an 8,000-seat venue packed to the brim, with more supporters waiting outside, as a united Democratic ticket took the stage just six days before election day.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is facing Republican House Rep. Mike Collins in a crucial Senate race; one Ossoff has been leading in polls throughout.
Just below his name on the ballot is notable Florida A&M alumna, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta now running for the state’s highest seat.
The United for Georgia rally had one clear message: there is one ticket, one goal, one mission at stake on election day. Democrats want power back in Georgia.
“Georgia is in play,” said Shieila Edwards, a Democratic candidate running for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission. “Georgia can be the difference maker in these elections and the people of Georgia can be the change that they want to see in the state.”
Speaking on the impact of local races like the Public Service Commission on families and college students, Edwards pointed to rate hikes and cost-of-living pressure.
“When you’re paying a large part of the money you work for to your utilities, that doesn’t leave a lot of money for anything else, especially when you have students in college that you have to support,” Edwards said.
Edwards also addressed rural connectivity issues affecting South Georgia and emphasized expanding infrastructure: “I think it’s a problem that we can resolve if we put our minds to it and start directing some attention to increasing broadband across South Georgia.”
Although Stacey Abrams lost both the 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial race by eight percent.
Democratic party leaders argue the state firmly remains a blue state at heart, and they say this will show if turnout is high.
“This election is about the people we serve… This election is about whether every Georgian, no matter their ZIP code or background, has a fair chance at building a better future,” Bottoms said.
While Georgia has not elected a Democratic governor in more than two decades, a victory on Nov. 3 would mark the start of a new era.
“The next six days will determine the future of our state for generations to come,” Bottoms said.
Bottoms has already outperformed Stacey Abrams,who notably secured the endorsement of Barack Obama but while Abrams and now-Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock rarely appeared together as they both ran for election, Bottoms not only has Ossoff but the rest of the Democratic ticket on her side.
Alongside Bottoms, Jon Ossoff continues to make corruption a primary focus, reflecting a theme consistent throughout his campaign and background in politics and investigative journalism.
“For nearly two years, we’ve seen our government transform into a tool for one man’s personal vengeance and power and enrichment,” Ossoff said.
Ossoff said the president promised to lower prices on day one and the cost of living has only increased. He walked through the timeline of the war in Iran, now in its eighth month. Despite facing Collins in the race, Ossoff’s message centered largely around the president and tying Collins to what Ossoff says is a playbook of corruption.
“The crypto payoffs and the crooked ballrooms, the pay-to-play pardons and the billions of your tax dollars backing Prince Don and Prince Eric’s investments. Never before has so little effort been made to cover up so much corruption,” Ossoff said.
“A wave is building, the kind of wave that comes once a generation when the people have been pushed too far and decide together, all at once, that enough is enough,” Ossoff said before welcoming Obama to the stage. “We have six days, Georgia, and Georgia will bow to no king.”
President Obama emphasized much of what Bottoms and Ossoff had said. He called the Trump Administration one of “chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence.” He pointed to higher prices for food, gas, healthcare and other basic needs.
President Obama also spoke to what he said were real concerns about the future of the nation, acknowledging that “these are serious times.”
“We need serious people who are listening to your concerns, who see you and care about you… like Jon Ossoff, like Keisha Lance Bottoms,” Obama said.
This call to action carries heavy weight in North Florida, where Florida A&M’s campus lies. FAMU serves as a vital engine for regional civic engagement. Because many FAMU students and alumni have direct family ties to South Georgia and the Atlanta metro area, mobilizing voters at FAMU creates a critical cross-border ripple effect, driving voter turnout for competitive Georgia races like those of Jon Ossoff, Keisha Lance Bottoms and local ticket candidates like Sheila Edwards.
Stacey Abrams will be on Florida A&M’s campus on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026 ahead of election day.
The emphasis on campuses like Florida A&M is backed by numbers. As the nation’s top-ranked public HBCU, FAMU educates nearly 10,000 students. While on-campus precinct data from past elections such as the approximately 1,300 voters at the FAMU Student Union precinct highlight the ongoing challenge of sustaining youth turnout, it also underscores the massive, untapped potential of the campus as a regional mobilization hub.
Edwards reiterated the urgency of every single voter getting involved: “We have to be our brother’s keeper in this situation, and we cannot leave things to chance… We need people to apply that same sense of responsibility to voting in Georgia. “If you can vote for American Idol and vote for Dancing with the Stars, you should be able to vote for your next governor, lieutenant governor, senator, and everybody else up and down the ballot.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris also held a Democratic campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, as part of a get-out-the-vote push ahead of the midterm elections.