Rock legend Springsteen and Obama to hit campaign trail for Harris

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen will hold a concert and rally with former US president Barack Obama in Atlanta and Philadelphia in the coming days as part of get-out-the-vote events for Vice-President Kamala Harris’s campaign in battleground states, a senior campaign official said on Tuesday.

With early voting under way, the Harris campaign is betting the surrogate rallies will help drive enthusiasm and turn out voters in states that will decide November's tightly-contested election between Democrat Harris and Republican rival Donald Trump.

The 75-year-old rock star is expected to play some of his most popular songs including Born to Run on Thursday in Atlanta in a campaign event with Harris and Obama. The event will mark the first time Harris and Obama have appeared together during the campaign.

On Monday, Springsteen will appear in Philadelphia with Obama, the senior campaign official said.

In 2016, Springsteen played a three-song set at a rally in front of 20,000 people at Philadelphia's Independence Hall for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on the eve of the election. In 2008, he played a seven-song set for tens of thousands of people on the city's Benjamin Franklin Parkway to encourage voter registration and rally for Obama’s campaign.

In October, Springsteen announced his support for Harris, saying she and her running mate Tim Walz have “a vision of this country that respects and includes everyone, regardless of class, religion, race, your political point of view or sexual identity, and they want to grow our economy in a way that benefits all".

Taylor Swift, Pink, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and many other celebrities have endorsed Harris and Walz. Celebrities endorsing Trump include Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, Russell Brand and Amber Rose.

Reuters