By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-18 04:01:13 | Updated at 2026-10-18 05:37:36
1 hour ago
ATLANTA—Voters by the hundreds danced along to a marching band routine at the Cobb Convention Center in Atlanta to kick off a rally for Democratic Party candidates in the midterm elections.
The most significant races for Democrats include the governorship and the state’s U.S. senate seat. Incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is seeking to hold his seat against Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), while former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms is on the gubernatorial ticket against billionaire Rick Jackson.
“Keisha, Keisha, Keisha … Ossoff, Ossoff, Ossoff,” the crowd chanted before the Democratic contenders took the stage.
Bottoms and Ossoff hammered President Donald Trump and administration officials, and accused their respective opponents of being puppets for the president. At times, attendees in the crowd shouted out expletives about Trump, Vice President JD Vance, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A Republican hasn’t held a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia since 2021.
“Georgia deserves so much better than [Collins], and America deserves so much better than Donald Trump,” Ossoff said, while levying personal attacks on the congressman during his roughly hour-long speech.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) speaks to supporters at a midterm rally. He and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms, running for the governor seat, aimed to energize voters for the midterms during the event in Atlanta on Oct. 17, 2026.
Bottoms is seeking to interrupt a 23-year streak of Republican governorship in Georgia.
“With every vote passed, we’re sending a message loud and clear for Donald Trump and slick Rick Jackson,” Bottoms said in her 20-minute speech. “Our votes are our voices, and our voices will never be silenced.”
Georgia had a record turnout for its first day of early voting on Oct. 13.
The Georgia races are also attracting big Republican events, with a Trump rally being held in Dalton the day before. The president joined Collins and Jackson to drum up Republican voter turnout.
Speakers at the GOP event touted successes while hurling insults at their opponents.
Trump criticized Ossoff, saying he “votes against Georgia values every time.”
“And then there’s Keisha Lance Bottoms … who eliminated cash bail for vicious criminals, turned Atlanta into a deadly sanctuary city. And if she becomes governor, she will ruin the state,” Trump said during an hour-and-a-half-long speech.
President Donald Trump walks down a red carpet after finishing a roughly hour-and-a-half speech in Dalton, Ga., on Oct. 16, 2026. Troy Myers/The Epoch Times
Bottoms’ tenure as the Atlanta mayor ran from 2018 to 2022, which coincided with the Black Lives Matter protests and riots in major cities across the country.
Meanwhile, Ossoff and Bottoms at their rally accused Trump, Collins, Jackson, and Republicans of creating chaos and sowing hatred, and condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement for its enforcement operations to apprehend illegal immigrants.
“We’re not just one United States. We’re one united people,” Ossoff said. “Americans aren’t a race. We’re a people united not by ethnicity but by shared convictions, and that is what makes us exceptional and a beacon to the world.”
Ossoff also challenged Collins to a second debate.
Attendee Mason Jordan told The Epoch Times he resonated with Ossoff’s message on immigration. Among other topics, Jordan said he felt passionate about opposing the rapid progression of artificial intelligence and the massive data centers needed to power the technology, adding that he feels enthusiastic about Democratic contenders’ handling of such topics and their chances to win this midterm cycle.
“We’ve got to get back to a place of treating everyone with respect,” Jordan said. “We’ve got to get ICE out of the streets, we’ve got to stop looking at people as illegal, and we’ve got to start actually caring about respecting every single American and their values and contributions.”
