Donald Trump tells supporters to ‘just vote’ at lively Georgia rally organized by Charlie Kirk

ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump pushed supporters at a lively rally Wednesday in Georgia to vote for him — with an early ballot or on Election Day — in a state that could be crucial in the presidential election, speaking at a filled-to-capacity event organized by the conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk and the group he founded.

“Just vote — whichever way you want to do it,” Trump told the rally crowd, which broke into cheers and chants as Trump spoke.

The Trump campaign strategy of encouraging supporters to vote either early or on Election Day is a turn from when the former president blamed his 2020 election loss on mail ballots, and the number of people voting early has surged this year. Yet as the election contest with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris enters its final days, allies like Kirk are framing ballot decisions in dire terms and launching get-out-the-vote operations in key battleground states.

“It is civilizational defining and you need to go to every single person you know and say, ‘Are you voting for Trump?’” Kirk told the crowd Wednesday before Trump took the stage.

The 31-year-old Kirk has an outsize role in this year’s election, using his online presence and the organization he founded, Turning Point Action, to make himself one of the nation’s most recognizable conservatives and a central part of Trump’s operation. The former president has put a particular emphasis on courting younger men, the “bro vote,” trying to reach them through podcasts, social media and influencers such as Kirk.

Wednesday’s rally was strategically located in part of the swath of metro Atlanta where Trump underperformed four years ago in his reelection campaign, losing to Democrat Joe Biden. Kirk and Trump are also scheduled to appear at a rally Thursday evening in Las Vegas.

As he spoke to the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Kirk described the election as a Christian “spiritual battle” between good and evil. Trump’s rise and continued place in U.S. politics is the work of a “divine” author, he said, as he pressured Georgia pastors to speak out on Trump’s behalf.

Earlier in the evening, the crowd broke into a chant not usually heard at the former president’s rallies: “Christ is King! Christ is King! Christ is King!”

Trump on Wednesday also took questions at a faith-focused town hall held at a church in Zebulon, about 50 miles south of Atlanta. He told the crowd that Christians don’t vote in high numbers, but that people are energized this year.

“When you have faith, when you believe in God, it’s a big advantage over people that don’t have that,” he said.

At the end of what was billed as a “Believers and Ballots” event, Trump moved outside to address an overflow crowd. Several hundred people were assembled in the church parking lot, chanting “USA!”

Harris, meanwhile, was participating in a Philadelphia town hall Wednesday night on CNN.

Over 1.9 million voters have cast early ballots in Georgia, and voters nationwide have returned a total of over 23 million advance ballots in the 2024 general election. That’s busting records in states across the country and is partly driven by Republicans embracing early voting at Trump’s directive.

Kirk’s Turning Point is pitching state and local Republican officials in a get-out-the-vote operation in Arizona, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Critics question the group’s claims and its use of an app that has minimal protections to secure voters’ personal information. In a recording of one meeting obtained by The Associated Press, a group operative declared, “We now are an official arm of the Trump campaign.”

Earlier this week, Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy took the stage in downtown Atlanta, a decidedly liberal environment for two famous conservatives, to hold court with college students. The event was part of Kirk’s “You’re Being Brainwashed Tour,” which stops on college campuses across the swing states. More than the field work, the “Brainwashed” tour has become perhaps his most visible presence in the closing months of the campaign.

Within minutes, Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who sought the Republican presidential nomination this year, and Kirk, the professional provocateur, were jousting with Georgia State University undergraduates over their choices in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Trump and his aides argue that his populist nationalism appeals to younger voters frustrated by an inflationary economy and rising housing prices.

“I’m definitely voting for Trump because he reflects my values as a conservative and as a Christian more than Ms. Harris,” said 25-year-old Jean Pierre. He credited figures such as Kirk and Candace Owens for “helping me recognize I’d always been a conservative.”

Yet Pierre seemed vastly outnumbered in the crowd by students who were there to push back at the host or simply to watch the combative exchanges.

When Turning Point staffers walked through the crowd handing out free “MAGA” hats, some students took them to mock the idea. One student desperately walked around trying to give it away: “Please, will some straight white male take this hat!”

Jason Evans and Tyler Hill showed up in “White Dudes for Harris” attire.

Said Hill: “I’m just here for the show.”

Kirk delved into specious claims and conspiracy theories.

He repeated Trump’s misrepresentation that Harris has been singularly responsible for immigration policy. Kirk said the vice president was the decision-maker on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He amplified the falsehood that 325,000 children have been “lost” at the border during Biden’s term.

Kirk also defended the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify Biden’s election.

Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead by a Capitol Police officer inside the building, was unarmed, Kirk said. He asked rhetorically whether the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, was acceptable. That drew jeers and more than a few expletives.

Kirk, who is white, went on to say: “Black people in America are getting put last, which seems to be a theme the last 60 years when Democrats are in charge.”

The crowd, which reflected the racial and ethnic diversity of Georgia State’s enrollment, largely did not react. Turning Point staffers and local conservatives cheered.

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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed reporting.

Bill Barrow And Jill Colvin, The Associated Press