ZEBULON, Ga. — A sea of red MAGA hats greeted former President Donald Trump on Wednesday in an area of the state where the population is sparse but fully committed to Mr. Trump and the Bible.
A big turnout in rural Georgia could provide the votes Mr. Trump needs to win the critical electoral battleground state.
Mr. Trump ramped up outreach to the faith community in swing states in the final stretch of his third presidential campaign as he vied to ensure his base cast their ballots.
“Christians are not tremendous voters in terms of percentage,” Mr. Trump told the crowd packed into Zebulon’s Christ Chapel. “If they were, we would never lose an election.”
Zebulon is in western Georgia’s Pike County, where Mr. Trump won 85% of the vote in 2020. He hopes to increase Republican turnout here, where more than 14,000 voters are active, and in other rural enclaves considered Trump country.
An October research paper by Arizona Christian University warned of election apathy among Christians, including 41 million born-again Christians, 32 million Christian churchgoers and 14 million evangelicals. It predicted only about half of all faith-based voters planned to cast a ballot this year.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump told the crowd he would surpass those predictions.
“I think we are going to see those numbers go way up. I think we’ve really energized a lot of people this time because they see how bad it is,” Mr. Trump said about the Biden-Harris administration. “It’s a horror show.”
On Monday, Mr. Trump visited Concord, North Carolina, to court voters at the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting. He warned what’s at stake if they stay on the sidelines and Ms. Harris wins the presidency. He told the crowd his faith “took on a new meaning” after he was struck by an attempted assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 and believed a “supernatural” hand knocked him to the ground, saving his life.
“And I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that’s to make our country greater than ever before,” he said.
On Wednesday, he told the crowd his faith strengthened him.
“When you believe in God, it’s a big advantage over people who don’t have that,” he said.
Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris are scrambling for every last vote in Georgia. Polling averages show Mr. Trump with a 2-percentage-point advantage, within the margin of error.
Mr. Trump, 78, won the state in 2016 but lost to President Biden in 2020 by fewer than 12,000 votes. Georgia is considered a toss-up, and both candidates are racing across the state to energize their respective bases.
In an appeal to the crowd in Christ Chapel, he said the Biden-Harris administration treated religious groups poorly. He referred to an FBI memo warning of “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” and pointed to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memo directing the FBI to investigate parents who protest at school board meetings.
“People are being persecuted, especially people of religion,” Mr. Trump said. He called the Biden-Harris administration “vicious, vicious people.”
Aletha Smith, 68, who waited in an overflow area outside the chapel, said she voted for Mr. Trump twice and will enthusiastically vote for him again. She cited the economy, gas prices and the open southern border.
“He kept us safe for one thing. He knows how to get tough. He knows how to protect us,” Ms. Smith said. “Why would I vote for Harris when she’s been in there three years, and they’ve ruined this country? No way.”
While Mr. Trump traveled through rural Georgia, Ms. Harris supercharged efforts to turn out her base in Democratic-leaning urban areas of the state, including among faith-based voters.
She spent Sunday, her 60th birthday, speaking at two Georgia churches as part of her campaign’s “Souls to the Polls” initiative.
On Thursday, she will rally in Atlanta and appear on stage for the first time alongside former President Barack Obama. Bruce Springsteen will contribute a musical performance.
Mr. Trump’s event in Zebulon featured Faith and Freedom Coalition leader Ralph Reed. Before Mr. Trump arrived, Mr. Reed implored the crowd to vote early and in person. He also updated them on Ms. Harris’ Tuesday interview with NBC, in which she rejected any religious exemptions in abortion rights legislation.
Mr. Trump has backed away from strict abortion bans supported by many in the faith community, but he is considered a hero for appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Ms. Harris, Mr. Reed said, “is going to pass a federal law to impose abortion on demand in all 50 states.”
He warned that Ms. Harris would end the Senate filibuster, paving the way for a federal law imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices, which would remove conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
“And she’s going to replace them with the most left-wing, radical extremist justices ever,” he said. “That’s her agenda. Are we going to let that happen? There are millions of Christians who don’t vote.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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