FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Standing near a towering pecan tree, former President Bill Clinton stumped for Vice President Kamala Harris at a Middle Georgia fish fry Sunday that brought memories of his own campaign strategy when he ran for president more than three decades ago.

Clinton knocked former President Donald Trump and mocked vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s debate performance. He said GOP policies exacted a devastating toll on health care in rural Georgia. And, most of all, he promoted Harris’ campaign.

“I think she has the capacity to be a truly great president,” Clinton said to a few hundred voters at the fish fry, where he spoke for roughly 30 minutes. “You need to vote for her.”

It was Clinton’s first major foray on the campaign trail this cycle, and it was a carefully calibrated swing through south and Middle Georgia that also involved stops at a church service and get-out-the-vote drive in Albany. On Monday, he’ll visit Columbus.

The Harris campaign views Clinton as a rare surrogate who can pull off a twofer: motivate rural Georgians who have drifted away from Democrats while also energizing Black voters who make up the party’s base.

Recent polls of Georgia show Harris with softer support among Black voters than other Democratic statewide candidates at this stage in the contest, and her campaign is taking new steps to rev up core supporters. Both Harris and Trump plan rallies in Atlanta this week.

Trump’s Georgia allies said Clinton’s visit smacked of desperation. Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon linked Clinton’s stop with events held earlier in the week headlined by the actress Julia Roberts.

“If Kamala Harris was winning,” McKoon said, “they would not be summoning movie stars of yesterday and Democratic political stars of yesteryear to try to resuscitate her dying campaign.”

Clinton’s visit evoked memories of his 1992 barnstorming trip across South Georgia when his name was on the ballot. His aides dubbed that campaign blitz, which started in Columbus and ended in Valdosta, the “Bubbas for Bill” tour.

This time, though, Clinton’s stops didn’t involve large rallies or a lengthy caravan that stretched into the horizon. Instead, organizers put the former president in smaller settings with more personal interaction with voters.

In Fort Valley, he was joined by U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop and two-time gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams. Clinton sported a brown-plaid shirt and ostrich-skin boots with a camouflage “Harris Walz” cap on his head.

He praised Harris’ economic plan as the best proposal to bring down the costs of groceries, and blamed Republicans for the “cynicism” of rejecting a bipartisan border security bill that could have weakened one of Trump’s main campaign arguments.

And he highlighted the stakes of Georgia’s vote. Georgia is one of seven competitive battlegrounds that could decide the November race, and both campaigns are devoting more time and attention in the state as early in-person voting begins on Tuesday.

“I don’t know if we can make it without Georgia. But I know this: They’ve got one heck of a hill to climb if we do win Georgia,” said Clinton. “It won’t hurt Mr. Trump to climb a few more hills. I’ll even pray for him. But not to get to the top before we do.”

He had a similar message in Albany, where he reminded Democrats their support helped elect U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in 2021 and flip control of the Senate.

“They want you to go to sleep, to think you don’t make a difference,” Clinton said. “And you may make more of a difference than you ever had.”

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