Trump surrogates criticize Biden, Harris on Helene response, immigration in Columbus event
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and other surrogates for former President Donald Trump visited Columbus Friday, encouraging supporters to vote as part of the “Team Trump Bus Tour” that has stops throughout Georgia this weekend.
The bus tour launched Friday with Columbus serving as the first stop with the campaign also planning to visit Macon and Athens. They will end the three-day tour at a Town Hall event in Gainesville on Sunday.
Georgia State Rep. Carmen Rice, who represents District 139, and a candidate to represent District 2 in the U.S. House, Wayne Johnson, joined Ernst in the tour’s stop at the Republican headquarters on Veterans Parkway.
During his speech, Johnson urged supporters to organize and get people out to vote.
“We need to take 10 friends and get them out to vote,” he said. “There are a lot people there (who) would vote for Trump. They would vote for me if they just go to the poll.”
Rice told supporters that she wanted to focus on policy, bringing up concerns with immigration and the military, two focal points for Trump in his run as the Republican nominee for president.
“Our recruitment is low,” Rice said. “So, we need to get leadership who’s going to make our military strong and growing again.”
Both Rice and Ernst attacked Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, including U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, on immigration.
“We need to do better,” Ernst said. “Let’s control the border. Let’s secure it. Mayorkas is a liar when he says our border is secure. It is not.”
Trump would address immigration on his first day in office, Ernst said in her speech.
Earlier this year, Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border security bill after the former president signaled he was against passing it on social media.
There were policy elements that were necessary in the bill, Ernst told the Ledger-Enquirer, but the immigration bill didn’t do enough to keep Republican support. The number of people who could claim asylum at the border was still too high, she said, which led to the rejection.
“It was important that we negotiate that number (to) bring that number lower,” Ernst said. “So that we can control the immigration.”
Ernst also had concerns about securing the border between the ports of entry, she said.
Along with immigration, surrogates also criticized the Biden administration for high inflation and its response to Hurricane Helene.
“President Donald J. Trump is out surveying damage because he knows and cares for our farmers,” Ernst said during her speech.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have both visited Georgia earlier this week to survey damage themselves, Gov. Brian Kemp said in a Thursday press conference, and the administration have been in contact with the governor and state officials.
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 1:25 PM.
