Live updates: Former President Donald Trump holds rally in Macon two days ahead of Election Day

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in Tuesday’s election, is set to hold a rally in Macon Sunday night, where he’ll address supporters at Atrium Health Amphitheater. Georgia remains a critical swing state, and Trump’s visit is expected to draw significant attention from local and national audiences.

He is scheduled to speak at 6:30 p.m.

Check back here for live updates throughout the day.

9:30 p.m. – Former President Trump has concluded his comments. Thanks for following along today!

9:19 p.m. – A lot of people have cleared out on this school night Sunday. Trump is still talking though. He was 1.5 hours late tonight after holding rallies in Pennsylvania and North Carolina earlier today. He’s set to return to North Carolina for another rally Monday morning. From there, he’ll head back to Pennsylvania for two rallies and then close the night Monday with one in Michigan that’s scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.

9:08 p.m. – Trump recognizes recent hurricane victims in Georgia. Says many who needed assistance weren’t able to get help from FEMA. Now he’s talking about Elon Musk’s efforts to help people in southeastern states with communication following hurricane (via Starlink). “You know where he (Elon) is right now? He’s campaigning for me in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!” He also thanks Governor Brian Kemp, who is not in attendance, for his support. “He’s working very hard on making sure that we win this vote on Tuesday,” Trump said.

9:05 p.m. – Trump thanks speakers from earlier tonight and those who are here and running for Congress, including Wayne Johnson of Macon, who’s running against incumbent Sanford Bishop. “I hear you’re doing great,” Trump says.

8:59 p.m. – Campaign plays a video mashup of Kamala Harris saying Donald Trump’s name over and over. Trump says, “I can’t take it!” Crowd loves it. Someone yells, “We can’t either!”

8:57 p.m. – Trump says this isn’t a rally; it’s just a place to ask people to go vote on Tuesday. For what it’s worth, most in crowd raised their hands hours ago when a previous speaker asked if they’d already voted.

8:52 p.m. – Trump, while speaking about others across the country, including mentioning declining polls for Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsome, and praising Elon Musk, recognizes Herschel Walker in the crowd. “Maybe one of the top two or three in the history of football.” “We love that you’re here, Herschel.” Crowd cheers and barks again. Walker spoke earlier tonight.

8:45 p.m. – Trump, after talking a while about immigration and having victims of alleged immigrant crimes speak to the crowd here, changes topics to the economy, mentions tax cuts: No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on social security. And mentions his line, “Drill, baby drill.”

8:24 p.m. – Trump asks for “the chart,” referring to the immigration chart he was showing on July 13 in Pennsylvania when he was shot in an attempted assassination. Says he loves that chart and that it saved his life because he had turned his head to the right. “I sleep with it,” he says. “We’re going to have the largest deportation of criminals in history,” he adds.

Trump, on stage in Macon, refers to the immigration chart he was showing when he was shot during an assassination attempt in July.

Trump, on stage in Macon, shows immigration chart.

8 p.m. – Former President Trump takes the stage to Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA.

”Kamala broke it, and I will fix it,” Trump says, a message repeated here several times tonight.

7:45 p.m. – Steve Scalise, Majority Leader of U.S. House, takes stage. Hits on  mostly same talking points as previous speakers. Still waiting on the former president to take the stage.

7:15 p.m. – Former President Trump hasn’t taken the stage yet, but supporters are enjoying dancing to YMCA.

7 p.m. – It appears all pre-Trump speakers have spoken. Crowd waiting on the former president now.

6:47 p.m. – UGA football great and Johnson County native Herschel Walker takes stage. The former candidate for U.S. Senate mentions growing up “about 60 miles” away. Says he said “about” because he didn’t want anyone fact checking him. Says Trump hasn’t changed in the 40 years he’s known him and that they’re still friends. Makes joke about how they both still have great hair. Says man can’t stop what God has in store after mentioning assassination attempts, trials, Trump being called a racist, etc. “In case y’all haven’t noticed, I’m Black.”

6:42 p.m. – Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones takes stage and says last time he was on this stage, he was presenting a check for Hurricane victims alongside Macon native Jason Aldean that Jones says wouldn’t have been possible without Trump’s help. He says more than $7M went to those affected. He then mentions the size of the crowd. “If this is what the Biden administration considers garbage, then I’ll take this trash all day long.”

Jones goes on to say the national media is the reason Trump was almost assassinated.

6:35 p.m  – Former President Donald Trump posts on Truth Social that he just landed in Macon. “Join me live in Macon at 7:15pmEDT,” he writes.

6:32 p.m. –  U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida takes stage. “When they called me about this yesterday, I said, ‘Look, I don’t know. We’re (Florida) up 10-3 in the first half. Right now I don’t know if they’re going to want to see me right now. But they played the rest of the game and Georgia went Georgia on us.” Many in crowd cheer.. and bark.

6:22 p.m. – Former White House Press Secretary and current Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders takes stage. “The left does not care about empowering women, but Donald Trump does.” She says when “the left” was attacking her and tearing her down during her time as press secretary, it was Donald Trump who defended her and gave her confidence to continue doing her job.

6:08 p.m. – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene takes stage, gets standing ovation from at least half the crowd here. Mentions she was born in Milledgeville and “was a little girl in Macon, Georgia.” She says her first campaign rally for Trump was in Macon and recognizes her last will also be in Macon. Then says this is “not the end of the MAGA Movement. This is only the beginning.”

5:59 p.m. – Congressman Austin Scott of Georgia takes stage. “We signed the Abraham Accords,” he says of Trump’s time in office while talking about current state of the Middle East. “Nobody else could have gotten that done.” “Israel is our friend, and Hamas is our enemy. It’s not that hard, Kamala,” he says.

5:40 p.m. – Former Senator David Perdue of Georgia takes stage to speak, followed by former Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia.

5:35 p.m. – Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon, Ag Commissioner Tyler Harper, and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins have all spoken.

5:25 p.m. – Programming is underway about an hour behind schedule. Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore John F. Kennedy gave invocation. As mentioned earlier, Wayne Johnson led Pledge of Allegiance. Brooke Huckaby, youngest female mayor in U.S., of Arabi, Georgia, sang national anthem.

5:10 p.m. – GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) just walked in to big cheers. Former President Trump just wrapped up speaking in North Carolina. Only seating available is on the lawn.

3:45 p.m. – Wayne Johnson of Macon, who’s running against incumbent Sanford Bishop for the Georgia House of Representatives District 2 seat, tells 41NBC he’ll say the Pledge of Allegiance tonight.

3 p.m. – Gates have opened at Atrium Health Amphitheater.

1:30 p.m. – The Trump Campaign has released a statement following the former president’s comments at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday morning.

“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about. The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else. It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats. In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”

The statement follows comments Trump made while speaking at a rally in Lititz: “I have a piece of glass over here,” he said, referring to protective glass. “And I don’t have a piece of glass there. I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news, right? And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind.”

Trump is set to speak at another rally in Kinston, North Carolina at 2 p.m. ahead of his scheduled remarks in Macon Sunday night.

Vendors are lined up outside Atrium Health Amphitheater ahead of a rally Sunday night for former President Donald Trump.

10:42 a.m. – Supporters continue to join the queue outside Atrium Health Amphitheater, where gates will open at 2:30 p.m. Jason and Kelly Griggs say they came from Byron and got here around 9 a.m. “We wanted to make sure we show our support,” Jason said. “And know that this is a very important election and we want to make sure it’s known that everybody’s behind Donald Trump.”

8:45 a.m. – Several dozen cars were parked outside Atrium Health Amphitheater, more than nine hours before the former president is scheduled to take the stage. Vendors are beginning to set up on Eisenhower Parkway near I-75.

A view of the parking lot outside Atrium Health Amphitheater just before 9 a.m. Sunday.