President Trump rallied supporters in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday, campaigning alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson and Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who is challenging Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., in one of the most closely watched Senate races of the midterm cycle. Candidates in House races across the state also joined him.
The event came as Trump’s national approval rating sits at 36%, with disapproval at 64%. But in Perry, attendees voiced strong support for the president despite rising gas prices and continued fallout from the Iran war.
Gloria Barkman, a rallygoer, said she trusts Trump to turn things around.
“I know people are upset because things don’t look good with the gas and everything like that, but give him time and they’ll be seeing the difference,” Barkman said.
Gas prices in Georgia are currently averaging around $3.66 per gallon, up from about $2.72 in February, before the Iran war began. Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and threats to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have unsettled global oil markets. Polling from Pew shows roughly 65% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the conflict.
Jim Taylor, an Air Force veteran at the rally, said he views the higher prices as a necessary cost.
“I guess what I’m most proud of is what the president’s done in Iran,” Taylor said. “I know he’s got a lot of criticism for it, but being a military veteran and a strong supporter of the military itself, I’m very, very proud that he was at least willing to step up and do what had to be done — to take care of the bigger picture because gas prices really wouldn’t matter if a nuclear weapon went off in our country.”
During the rally, Trump said oil prices would fall soon and pointed to an inflation rate of 1.7% over the past three months. The most recent official annual inflation figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, was 3.7% in September.
Rallygoer TJ Barb praised the Trump Accounts created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which establish investment accounts for children.
“The investment in children — that’s significant,” Barb said. “Financial intelligence. He’s going to start giving that to our kids.”
Barkman framed her support in broader terms.
“I don’t want us to lose our country because we stand for the United States, and I’m going full force for Trump in supporting him and the Republicans,” Barkman said.
The Race to Unseat Ossoff
Ossoff won his seat in a January 2021 runoff by 1.22 percentage points — fewer than 55,000 votes. Trump carried Georgia in 2024 by 2.2 points, and he urged supporters Saturday to vote as though “he’s on the ballot” on Nov. 3.
Taylor, who said he wasn’t very familiar with Collins before this campaign, said Trump’s endorsement carries weight with him.
“I would vote for anybody that Trump endorses,” Taylor said. “I think Mike’s a good candidate.”
Barb, who described himself as not very political, said the same, but added that seeing Collins speak Saturday changed his view beyond the endorsement.
“Hearing his story, blue collar stuff,” Barb said. “He’s gone through it, I think that’s what helps him relate to other folks. He’s straight southern Georgia right there, I’ll tell you. He’s a good old, good old boy.”
John Salvesen, the Republican nominee in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District — a Democratic stronghold in Atlanta long represented by the late civil rights leader John Lewis — said he sees a kinship with Collins.
“I think he’s wonderful. I like him a lot because he’s a lot like me, we’re just working dudes,” Salvesen said. “He’s a logger. I’m a handyman, and we just didn’t like what we saw, so it prompted us to run.”
Salvesen was blunt about Ossoff.
“I think Jon Ossoff is terrible,” Salvesen said. “And I’m not saying that because I’m Republican, I’m saying it because I studied him, and Mike Collins is a superior candidate to him if he can get the message out to the right people.”
Barkman, who has followed Collins’ voting record in the House, said she has long admired him.
“I’ve always been impressed with him,” Barkman said. “He’s very personable, friendly. He reaches out to the people, and we love him.”
A spokesperson for Collins, Meyer Siegfried, said the congressman is proud of Trump’s support and is working hard to earn votes statewide.
“Like President Trump, Georgians are backing Mike Collins because he delivered the Laken Riley Act to deport criminal illegals, cut taxes for hardworking families, and is the only candidate who can beat radical leftist Jon Ossoff. Ossoff hates President Trump more than he loves Georgia, and Mike Collins is the bipartisan workhorse who will work with anybody to make Georgia safer and more prosperous,” Siegfried said in a statement.
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