Todd Gurley flew aboard Air Force One with President Trump and took the stage at a Dalton rally as Georgia midterms near, giving Republicans a hometown football hero’s endorsement.
Former Georgia Bulldogs and NFL running back Todd Gurley stepped into the political spotlight Friday when he traveled with President Donald Trump to a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia. Gurley rode Air Force One, joined the motorcade, and appeared on stage near the end of Trump’s remarks as the midterm elections sat just over two weeks away.
Breitbart News reported the visit as part of Trump’s push to turn out voters for Republican candidates across the state. The appearance put a familiar Georgia sports name beside the president at a moment when early voting had already begun.
Fox News noted Gurley was photographed walking off Air Force One with Trump at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta before the Dalton event. The coverage framed the stop as another sign of athlete support lining up behind Republican efforts, including the Senate race for Rep. Mike Collins against Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Trump used the stage to walk through Gurley’s football résumé for the crowd. He listed the awards and records that made the former running back a household name in Georgia and the NFL.
"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 a short, direct thank-you that mixed White House access, Air Force One, and the state that raised him. He opened with the college call that still lands hard in Georgia.
"Go Dawgs!"
He continued:
"[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,"
Gurley played college ball for the Georgia Bulldogs before starring with the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams and later the Atlanta Falcons. That local-to-pro path gave the rally an easy hometown hook for voters who still remember the jersey.
Trump did not keep the focus only on football. He turned the microphone toward Georgia’s top races and called for a change in the U.S. Senate seat.
"It’s time to fire John Ossoff and elect Mike Collins, one of the most respected men in Washington,"
Collins took the stage and treated the contest as immediate and winnable. He pointed to early voting already underway and told the crowd the outcome sat within reach if people simply showed up and brought others with them.
"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 next step:
"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 supply one more vote for the SAVE America Act aimed at safeguarding American elections. The pitch stayed simple: turn out, bring neighbors, and lock in the seat.
That kind of straight turnout message lands with voters tired of elite excuses, much like the pressure seen when Democratic leaders scramble to hold their own ranks elsewhere.
Trump also boosted GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, calling him “a truly great patriot.” The contrast came when he turned to Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor now running for governor.
"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,"
Trump tied Bottoms to cash-bail changes and sanctuary-city policies he said left Atlanta less safe. Those charges stayed on the record as his own campaign framing, not independent findings in the reporting. Still, the language put law-and-order stakes front and center for Georgia voters who live with the results of soft-on-crime choices.
Readers following similar partisan fights will recognize the pattern from other races where Trump has pressed Democratic Senate hopefuls directly on accountability and presence.
Gurley’s Dalton stop fit a wider stretch of campaign travel. Trump has appeared with baseball great Roger Clemens in Texas, boxing legend Mike Tyson in New York, former NFL coach John Gruden and YouTuber-boxer Jake Paul in Ohio, and undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather in Arizona. The Georgia rally added another high-profile sports name to that list.
OutKick voice Clay Travis captured one common reaction among sports fans who have watched years of political lectures from the other direction: “So many pro athletes are over the anti-Trump bulls***. Good for Todd Gurley.” Another OutKick comment called the growing list of athletes “refreshing” for its willingness to back Trump and Republicans in public.
That visible break from the usual script matters to voters who want cultural figures to stop punishing half the country. It also sits opposite the media habit of treating every Trump appearance as a crisis, the same reflex on display when cable panels float extreme measures against him.
Georgia’s races now sit in the window where early votes already count and Election Day is close. Gurley’s presence gave Collins and Jackson a familiar face from the state’s football culture at exactly the moment organizers need bodies at the polls.
Democrats who once treated sports stars as automatic progressive messengers now watch former players stand with Trump instead. The same party stress shows up when figures such as Fetterman lean on Republican allies while his own side moves against him.
Coverage fights continue as well; Trump has already called out soft treatment of progressive candidates in other Senate contests, including the scrutiny he applied after a high-profile interview with a Michigan hopeful.
Friday’s trip from Air Force One to the Dalton stage kept the message practical: big-name support, clear endorsements, and a direct ask to vote. Gurley supplied the local football credibility. Trump and Collins supplied the ballot targets. Georgia voters now get to decide whether that combination moves the midterm numbers.
When athletes stop apologizing for backing secure borders, safe streets, and honest elections, ordinary taxpayers finally see their own common sense reflected on the big stage.
