Trump Announces Audi Plant at Georgia Rally as He Attacks Senator Ossoff
Campaigning in Perry, Georgia, President Trump announced that Audi will invest $4.2 billion in a new plant near Macon while sharply criticizing Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, whose seat Republicans hope to flip.
Key Points
- Trump said Audi has committed $4.2 billion to a plant near Macon, Georgia, producing 200,000 cars a year
- He campaigned for Republican Mike Collins, who is challenging Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff
- A recent AJC poll showed Ossoff leading Collins 48 percent to 40 percent, with 12 percent undecided
President Donald Trump brought his midterm campaign to Perry, Georgia, on Saturday, where he paired an economic announcement aimed at Georgia voters with a sustained attack on Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, one of the Republicans' top targets in the November 3 elections. Speaking to a cheering crowd, Trump labeled Ossoff a far-left extremist and blamed him for supporting policies that the president said produced inflation and record illegal immigration during the Biden administration. The crowd booed loudly at the mention of Ossoff's name.
The headline announcement of the rally was industrial. Trump said the German automaker Audi has committed to invest $4.2 billion in a massive new plant near Macon, with construction set to begin next month and production capacity of 200,000 cars per year. He told the crowd the project would bring thousands of jobs to the state, framing it as the latest payoff from his administration's push to move manufacturing to the United States and to pressure foreign companies to build in America. The announcement drew raucous cheers from the crowd.
Trump was in Georgia to stump for Representative Mike Collins, the Republican running to unseat Ossoff, and for Rick Jackson, the Republican candidate for governor, who faces former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The Georgia Senate race is among the most closely watched in the country, both because the seat could help decide control of the chamber and because Ossoff is widely discussed as a potential Democratic contender for president in 2028.
Ossoff, however, begins the final stretch in a reasonably strong position. According to the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll cited during the campaign, he leads Collins by eight points, 48 percent to 40 percent, with 12 percent of voters undecided. On the same day as Trump's rally, Ossoff was rallying get-out-the-vote canvassers in Atlanta alongside former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, another Democrat frequently mentioned in 2028 conversations.
The dueling Saturday events captured the state of the race in miniature. While Trump worked the crowd in Perry, Ossoff spent the day rallying get-out-the-vote canvassers in Atlanta with Buttigieg, part of a Democratic ground effort aimed at turning out voters in the state's populous metro areas. Georgia's Senate seat is one of a handful that could decide control of a closely divided chamber, and both parties are treating the state as a must-win. The contest has also drawn national attention because of what it may signal for 2028: a strong Ossoff defense would bolster his standing inside his party, while a Collins upset would demonstrate the durability of Trump's coalition in a fast-changing state.
The Georgia stop capped a busy Saturday for the president, who voted early in person in Florida earlier in the day before flying north for the rally. With ten days until Election Day, both parties are flooding competitive states with their biggest names. Republicans argue that announcements like the Audi plant show their economic message is working, while Democrats counter that high prices and tariffs are squeezing households. Georgia's results on November 3 will help settle which argument voters believed.
