At boisterous Georgia rally, Harris dares Trump to 'say it to my face' and debate her

ATLANTA (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told a cheering, boisterous, packed Atlanta arena on Tuesday that the next 98 days would be a fight, but they'd win come November, as she taunted Donald Trump for wavering on whether he'd show up for their upcoming debate.

“The momentum in this race is shifting," the likely nominee said. "And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it."

Little more than a week ago, Georgia appeared to be slipping out of the Democrats' reach: President Joe Biden's campaign pledged to concentrate more on holding the Midwestern "blue wall" states and indicated they might be willing to forsake “Sun Belt” battlegrounds. But now that Biden has bowed out of the race and Harris is the likely nominee, Democrats are expressing new hopes of an expanded electoral map.

In the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020, Harris pulled off what has been a signature Trump event: A big, loud rally full of supporters cheering her name, as she mocked her rival and his running mate JD Vance as “just plain weird,” and derided their policies as backward, outdated and dangerous.

Harris mentioned Trump’s efforts to stop the passage of an immigration bill that had bipartisan support and would have been among the strongest border security in decades. She said she’d work to push the bill across the finish line. “I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed and I will sign it and show Donald Trump what real leadership looks like.”

Trump earlier said he'd debate Harris, but is now questioning the value of a meetup and saying he “probably” will debate her, but he “can also make a case for not doing it.”

Harris seized on it. “So he won't debate me, but he and his running mate have a lot to say about me,” she said. “And by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird.”

"Well Donald," she said, addressing him head-on. “I do hope you'll reconsider. Meet me on the debate stage ... because as the saying goes, if you've got something to say, say it to my face.” Trump has suggested the Sept. 10 debate on ABC News should be moved to a different network, calling ABC “fake news.”

The roughly 8,000-capacity basketball arena at Georgia State University was filled to its rafters with voters waving signs, dancing to the Harris campaign soundtrack and a performance by Megan Thee Stallion. Such an atmosphere would not have been possible just 10 days ago, with the party reeling over whether the 81-year-old Biden would remain in the race after a dismal performance magnified concerns about his age and abilities and ultimately ended his campaign.

“This is like Barack Obama 2008 on steroids for me,” said Mildred Hobson Doss, a 59-year-old who came downtown from suburban Lilburn. “I would have voted for President Biden again. But we are ready.”

Harris' campaign argues her appeal to young people, working-age women and non-white voters has scrambled the dynamics in Georgia and other states that are demographically similar, from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona.

In a strategy memo released after the president left the race, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who held the same role for Biden, reaffirmed the importance of winning Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, a trio of industrial states that have formed the traditional Democratic blue wall.

But she also argued that the vice president’s place atop the ticket “opens up additional persuadable voters” and described them as “disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30” in places like Georgia.

“The energy is infectious,” said Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams, a congresswoman from Atlanta. “My phone has been blowing up. People want to be part of this movement.”

Harris began Tuesday with her days as a prosecutor — setting up the contrast between the law and Trump's many legal problems and misdeeds. But she also aggressively defended the Biden administration's record and she'd work to pass voting rights legislation and work to restore reproductive rights stripped by the fall of Roe v. Wade.

“America has tried these failed policies before. And we are not going back. We're not going back,” she said, shaking her head no as the crowd cheered “we're not going back.”

Republicans, who still control Georgia’s state government, counter that Biden’s lagging popularity and concern over higher consumer prices and immigration will transfer to Harris in the historically conservative state.

But they concede that the landscape suddenly looks much closer to 2020 – when Biden won by about 0.25 percentage points — than when Trump was riding high after the Republican National Convention and surviving an assassination attempt.

“Trump was going to win Georgia. It was over,” said Republican consultant Brian Robinson. “The Democrats have a chance here for a reset.”

And Trump is not taking chances. Earlier Tuesday, the former president announced that he would come to Atlanta on Saturday for a rally in the same Georgia State arena.

Robinson said Harris still has plenty of liabilities, including the progressive positions she took in her failed 2020 primary campaign and her various rhetorical stumbles. But he said Harris so far in this campaign has been “in command,” and if that continues, “we have a new ballgame and she will be competitive in Georgia.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed Harris as “just as weak, failed and incompetent as Joe Biden” and said the vice president would have to explain her support of Biden administration policies that “hurt working families in Georgia over the past four years.”

The campaign and Georgia Democratic officials have 24 offices across the state, including two added last weekend in metro Atlanta. Trump and the Republican National Committee opened their first Georgia offices only recently.

In a call with supporters after her speech, Harris thanked them for their work and noted early voting starts in some states in just 38 days. She hasn't yet formally seized the nomination, nor picked a running mate; both are expected soon.

“This is a sprint," she said. "And we know what we need to do to cross the finish line.”

The fast-growing, diversifying Atlanta suburbs and exurbs offer the most opportunity for swings, especially from GOP-leaning moderates disenchanted with Trump.

For Harris, that means depending on voters as varied as Michael Sleister, a white suburbanite, and Allen Smith, a Black man who lives not far from downtown Atlanta.

Sleister, who considers himself an independent, has lived in Forsyth County for 35 years. “I've voted Republican many times in my life,” he said, but not since the GOP took a rightward turn during President Barack Obama's administration.

"Now I see the Republican Party as representing a direct threat to my grandchildren," he said, adding that he sees Trump “as just a horrible person.”

Smith is a 41-year-old Atlanta native who has become a first-time campaign volunteer since Harris became the likely nominee.

“I was driving when I heard the news about President Biden endorsing her, and I started pounding my fist — I decided right then I would do whatever I could to help her get elected,” Smith said.

Long reported from Washington. Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The crowd responds as Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris admires the crowd suring a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris is greeted by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Fulton County Chairman Rob Pitts, right, as she arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta, where she will be attending a campaign rally. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters after arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta, where she will be attending a campaign rally. Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Vice President Kamala Harris is greeted by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, left, and Fulton County Chairman Rob Pitts, right, as she arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta, where she will be attending a campaign rally. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta, where she will be attending a campaign rally. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks, Jan. 11, 2022, in Atlanta. With President Joe Biden having bowed out of the presidential race and endorsing Harris, their party is suddenly eyeing an expanding map, betting that a new burst of energy and fundraising surge has helped make Georgia, the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020, a toss-up again. Harris is planning a show of political force on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta, the latest example of just how much the presidential contest against Republican former President Donald Trump has changed. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks, Jan. 9, 2024, in Atlanta. With President Joe Biden having bowed out of the presidential race and endorsing Harris, their party is suddenly eyeing an expanding map, betting that a new burst of energy and fundraising surge has helped make Georgia, the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020, a toss-up again. Harris is planning a show of political force on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta, the latest example of just how much the presidential contest against Republican former President Donald Trump has changed. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

ROME (AP) — Roma fired coach Daniele De Rossi on Wednesday in a move that was surprising despite the Giallorossi going winless in their opening four Italian league matches.

De Rossi, a former Roma captain, was hired in January to replace the fired Jose Mourinho and impressed so much during the second half of last season that he was given a contract extension in June through 2026-27.

“The club’s decision is made in the best interests of the team, to get back on the desired path as soon as possible at a time when the season is still in its early stages,” Roma said. “A heartfelt thank you to Daniele, who will always be at home at the Giallorossi club, for the work done in recent months with passion and dedication.”

Roma added that “communication regarding the team’s technical guidance will follow.”

Roma hosts Serie A leader Udinese on Sunday.

One possible replacement for De Rossi could be former Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, who was fired for his ugly outburst toward the referees in the Italian Cup final at the Stadio Olimpico in May.

Former AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli, who was reportedly close to signing with Al-Nassr — the Saudi Arabian club that Cristiano Ronaldo plays for — could be another option.

After opening with a scoreless draw at Cagliari, Roma was beaten 2-1 at home by Empoli. Draws at Juventus (0-0) and Genoa (1-1) followed — leaving Roma with only three points and in 16th place.

De Rossi had transformed Roma into a better attacking unit than Mourinho’s defensive teams but this season has produced only two goals.

Next week, Roma opens its Europa League campaign against Athletic Bilbao at the Olimpico.

Romelu Lukaku’s loan spell at Roma ended after last season but talented striker Paulo Dybala stayed with the club after considering a move to Saudi Arabia.

Roma’s American owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin have often made surprising decisions.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Roma's head coach Daniele De Rossi calls out to his players during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between AC Milan and Roma at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - Roma manager Daniele De Rossi speaks to his team during a Serie A soccer match against Atalanta at Gewiss Stadium, in Bergamo, Italy, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (Spada/LaPresse via AP, File)

FILE - Roma's head coach Daniele De Rossi waits for the start of the Europa League second leg semi-final soccer match between Leverkusen and Roma at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)