MACON, Ga. — Republican governor nominee Rick Jackson will not be on stage when President Donald Trump holds a rally in Macon on Saturday, and his campaign says he will spend that time rallying GOP voters in Cherokee County instead.
Organizers plan to let the crowd in from mid-afternoon, at 3:30, ahead of the president’s scheduled 7 p.m. start on Oct. 24. No site had been named as of Monday, and anyone hoping to go must register for tickets through the state Republican Party. The stop comes 10 days before the Nov. 3 election.
The choice stands out because Jackson stood beside Trump only days ago. He appeared with the president at a rally in Dalton on Friday, an event that also featured Mike Collins, the GOP pick for U.S. Senate, and he had joined Trump on a tele-rally the Sunday before that.
Jackson campaign spokesperson Garrison Douglas cast the move as a turnout play rather than a break, saying in a statement that the candidate would act as a force multiplier by working Cherokee County while the president works middle Georgia.
The backdrop is a sour mood toward the White House. One recent survey measured Trump approval in Georgia at 33%, the lowest of his second term, and another found 55% of likely Georgia voters disapprove of his job performance. Since winning the nomination in June, Jackson has leaned toward Gov. Brian Kemp in his messaging.
Jackson, a health care executive who calls himself a political outsider, faces Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor. Forecasters rate the contest a toss-up, and while Jackson has edged ahead by a couple of points in recent surveys, that lead sits inside the margin of error.
Democrats were quick to respond. Bottoms campaign manager Tharon Johnson said in a statement that Trump keeps returning to Georgia because Jackson would follow the president as governor, and state Democratic Party spokesperson Jake Strickland said Jackson cannot outrun his record of backing Trump.
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