Todd Gurley joined President Trump on stage in Dalton after flying on Air Force One, boosting GOP candidates weeks before Georgia’s midterms.
Former NFL running back Todd Gurley stepped onto the stage with President Donald Trump at a Friday rally in Dalton, Georgia, after flying with him on Air Force One and riding in the motorcade.
Breitbart News reported that Trump invited Gurley up toward the end of his remarks as Republicans pushed to mobilize voters with the midterm elections just over two weeks away.
Gurley, a Georgia Bulldogs product who starred for the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams and later the Atlanta Falcons, greeted the crowd and kept the hometown cheer simple.
“Go Dawgs!”
Trump introduced the former running back by walking through his résumé for the crowd.
"Well, he was the NFL Rookie of the Year. He was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year. He led the NFL in rushing touchdowns, and was the youngest player in NFL history to reach 50 career touchdowns. That means he is a good player,"
Gurley answered with gratitude for the trip and for the state that launched his career.
"[I] want to thank President Trump today for the experience: being on Air Force One, welcoming me into the White House. Thank you so much. Thank you to the state of Georgia for everything y’all done to me and go Dawgs,"
The appearance fit a wider stretch of campaign stops in which Trump has shared stages with well-known athletes. He campaigned with Roger Clemens in Texas, Mike Tyson in New York, John Gruden and Jake Paul in Ohio, and Floyd Mayweather in Arizona.
Trump used the Dalton rally to press the case for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
"It’s time to fire John Ossoff and elect Mike Collins, one of the most respected men in Washington,"
Collins took the microphone and framed the contest as immediate and winnable. Early voting, he said, had already begun.
"Listen, this thing, this race is sitting, it’s sitting right here. It’s right here in front of us. Early voting’s already started. All we got to do is reach out and grab this, grab it and hang on,"
He added the practical instruction that follows every close race: show up, and bring someone with you.
"And how do you do that? You go vote, and you make sure you take people with you to go vote,"
Collins also said that if elected he would be one more vote for the SAVE America Act, which he described as a measure to safeguard American elections.
The president also urged support for GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, calling him “a truly great patriot.”
Jackson’s Democratic opponent is former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump tied the governor’s race to crime policy and city governance, and he did not soften the charge.
"She’s an incompetent disaster who eliminated cash bail for vicious criminals, turned Atlanta into a deadly sanctuary city, and if she becomes governor, she will ruin your state,"
Those claims came from the rally stage as Trump’s own description of her record. The Dalton crowd heard them as a warning about cash bail, sanctuary rules, and what a Bottoms governorship would mean for Georgia.
For voters focused on law and order, the contrast was the point. Trump put a former Atlanta mayor’s record next to a Republican alternative and asked Georgians to choose.
Gurley’s presence gave the stop local texture. A former Bulldog who reached the NFL’s peak awards stood with a Republican ticket asking Georgia to change its Senate seat and its governor’s mansion in the same cycle.
The mechanics were straightforward. Fly in on Air Force One. Roll with the motorcade. Take the stage. Thank the president. Thank Georgia. Tell the crowd to vote.
Collins’s message matched that urgency. The race, he said, was sitting right in front of them. Early voting had started. The remaining work was turnout.
Trump’s broader athlete swing, from Clemens and Tyson to Gruden, Paul, and Mayweather, showed the same theory of the case. Put familiar competitors next to the candidates and ask voters to treat the midterms with the same seriousness they bring to a scoreboard.
In Dalton, that theory had a Georgia face. Gurley did not deliver a policy lecture. He thanked the president for the flight and the White House welcome, thanked the state, and left the crowd with the cheer they already knew.
When a Georgia running back who earned Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year stands with candidates promising secure elections and safer streets, voters get a clean choice about which direction the state should take.
