Zebulon, Georgia, had a population of 1,225 people at the time of the 2020 US census. The town’s Christ Chapel has a capacity of 1,100 and on Wednesday it hosted what aspiring congressman Brian Jack described as “the biggest political event in Pike County’s history”.
With a view to energising his evangelical Christian voter base as he seeks to flip this key swing state back to the Republicans, Donald Trump came to town to hold a “Believers and Ballots Faith Townhall meeting”.
In a statement publicising the event, the Trump campaign said: “While Kamala Harris has a troubling history of affiliating with individuals and organisations linked to anti-Semitism ... President Trump has been a vocal defender of religious freedom and an unwavering supporter of Jewish communities.”
He and his Democrat rival have been attempting to win over Jewish voters as they compete in the swing states, including Georgia, where Joe Biden’s narrow victory four years ago remains contentious for many Republicans.
An estimated 148,500 Jews live here, some 90 per cent of them in and around Atlanta, representing about 1.33 per cent of the state’s population.
“Traditionally the Democratic presidential candidate has polled about 70 per cent of the Jewish vote nationally and the Republican candidate about 30 per cent,” says David Schechter, a freelance journalist who contributes to the Atlanta Jewish Times.
“What makes it important is that Jews vote at a higher percentage [estimated at about 80 per cent] than most religious and ethnic groups. It is not true in every location but in some, particularly in a close race as we may have in Georgia this year, the Jewish vote, like that of any small constituency, could have an oversized effect.”
Just 11,779 votes separated Trump and Biden here last time out, so a shift of a few thousand ballots could prove crucial.
“The estimation was that nationally Biden polled 68 to 70 per cent of the Jewish vote in 2020,” Schechter adds. “My gut tells me that Harris will not poll that much, perhaps between 60 and 65 per cent.”
He says “a mitigating factor will be how individual Jewish voters view the events” of October 7th, 2023, and everything that has transpired in the Middle East, and the US, since.
Valerie Habif, a co-founder of Jewish Democratic Women’s Salon, which aims to give a voice to values Jewish women hold dear, says the polarisation between the two campaigns has “penetrated right down, not just to families but actually to social circles”.
“There is such great contrast and differences in our world view,” she says. “What it really boils down to is that one view is hopeful and the other one is not, it’s a series of grievances. One focuses on what might be and the other focuses on what is wrong ... The contrast is really significant and it actually affects who you chose to surround yourself with.”
She says Jewish women “have watched with horror” at the escalation of hate and anti-Semitism in the US and that Trump “has played a significant role” in spreading it against immigrants, Muslims and, most recently, Haitian refugees.
“As Jews, we connect to the immigrant because we were once strangers in a strange land.”
Betsy Kramer, a Jewish Republican activist, says she has seen a shift among people she knows in the Jewish community towards Trump.
“Not 100 per cent but big enough that I am like ‘wow, you’re voting Republican’ and they say: ‘yeah, I have to, I just don’t trust Kamala’,” she says.
“Harris is an unknown who was graded as the most aggressive, far-left senator while in office. I would rather vote for someone I know, even if I don’t thoroughly love how he talks sometimes ... I’m not hiring him because he’s so sweet, I am hiring him because he has proven himself to be a person who gets things done.”
Outside Zebulon, a petrol station attendant wonders what brings an Irish journalist to Pike County. After a brief explanation of the afternoon event, she says she’s not familiar with many, if any, Jewish people living locally but says there are lots of evangelical Christians.
While the former president’s preamble put anti-Semitism and support for Jews front and centre, some might argue that Israel, and its important place in his supporter base’s thinking, may have been on his campaign team’s mind when it came to the choice of venue. A significant cohort of evangelicals believe the establishment of Israel in 1948 fulfilled a biblical prophecy and is a precondition to the second coming of Christ, hence many feel the US must not leave a close ally wanting.
The roads around Zebulon were not designed to host a large-scale US presidential election event less than two weeks from the end of the campaign.
This is prime Trump territory, with more than 85 per cent of the 10,632 votes cast in Pike County in 2020 going his way. Residents of surrounding counties – Coweta, Lamar, Spalding and Upson – also did their part to keep their sections of the electoral map red, and several thousand of them turn out to catch a glimpse of their man.
Parking was to open at Christ Chapel at 8.30am, 7½ hours before Trump’s scheduled appearance, though some arrived even earlier. Traffic had ground to a near standstill by late morning, with some people opting to walk the latter part of the route, delighting vendors hawking all manner of Make America Great Again (Maga) gear.
The “I’m voting for the convicted felon” series is a nod to the former president’s legal travails, while the “You Missed” range leans into the recent assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
The Secret Service is out in force, patrolling the roof of the huge venue and sternly directing those inside the church grounds, where scores of US flags, and one Israeli one, flutter in the breeze.
“I can’t believe he’s coming all the way here to Zebulon,” says a man in a red Maga hat and a grey Trump/Vance T-shirt standing in the winding queue. “I told my boss ‘I’m taking the day off, and there ain’t no arguing’.”
Shortly after midday, event staff start spreading the news that the venue is full, prompting a few to leave but most to find a spot from where they can watch Trump on a jumbo outdoor screen.
“I’m done, you can watch it at home on YouTube better,” says one disappointed woman.
At 3pm, when Trump is due to speak, the video feed is live but shows an empty stage with a “TRUMP” backdrop as songs including Sinéad O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U and The Who’s Pinball Wizard play. At 3.36pm, the wait goes on as Elvis Presley sings “walk on, walk on” during his version of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Twelve minutes later, cheers emerge from the arena as Brian Jack takes the stage. He introduces Georgia’s lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, who notes that Trump is the first president to visit Zebulon since Franklin D Roosevelt in the 1930s.
The man of the moment then emerges, swaying along while God Bless America plays. His opening remarks are about the massive turnout and how this is going to be “the most important election in the history of our country” even if Harris has opted to “go on vacation” with less than a fortnight to go.
Then it’s on to well-rehearsed criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the economy, the border and the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, with praise for Elon Musk’s efforts in North Carolina, which “saved a lot of lives”.
A Q&A begins with a young man citing a study suggesting 32 million Christians won’t vote and asking what Trump’s message to them would be.
“If you look over the last 30 years or so, for whatever reason, Christians are not tremendous voters in terms of percentage,” he replies. “If they were, we’d never lose an election.”
He hopes the “horror show” of the last four years will energise them and also members of the National Rifle Association.
Next up is a question about Israel and the Jewish community. “It’s so interesting, evangelicals and so many Christians are supportive of Israel, it’s not just the Jewish people ... They say nobody has done what I have done for Israel.”
Trump notes the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem during his first term, something he promised to do and which was squarely lobbied for by his conservative base, but says: “the single biggest thing I did was get out of the Iran nuclear deal”.
Trump then pledges to bring peace to the Middle East and Ukraine, and to divert the looming threat of “World War three”.
“But we’re going to take care of Israel, we’re going to work with Israel. They say that in Israel, if things don’t work out here, I could maybe run for prime minister and I’d get 97 per cent of the vote,” he says with a smile.
“Of course, I kid, because you know what happens when you do a little sarcasm, they say ‘he said he’s running’ but that’s the fake news doing that.”
