DALTON, Ga. -- President Donald Trump has spent the closing stretch of the midterm campaign barnstorming deep-red parts of the country, trying to mobilize voters already inclined to support him.
But in Dalton, the "carpet capital of the world" with an economy deeply dependent on immigrant labor, Trump's presence and rhetoric could create complications for the Republicans sharing his stage.
That is especially true for Rick Jackson, the GOP nominee for governor, who attended a rally Friday with Trump even as he has increasingly emphasized his independence from the president. Recent polls have shown Jackson holding only a narrow lead over Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The president talked up Jackson and Senate candidate Mike Collins as part of the White House effort to boost GOP enthusiasm in the upcoming elections.
"You have to pretend I'm on the ballot," Trump said as at least one man in the crowd cried "Trump 2028."
Trump's popularity has reached historic lows -- his approval rating stood at 38% earlier this month -- as he wages war with Iran and presides over a shaky economy, with fresh signs of rising prices emerging this week.
On Friday, Trump waded into the immigration issue moments after stepping off his helicopter in Dalton, a city where 52% of the population is Hispanic, and nearly 1 in 3 people are foreign-born.
Foreign countries "emptied their prisons into our country, and a lot of them came right here to Georgia," he said, warning that if Republicans including Jackson didn't win, immigrants would bring more lawlessness to the Peach State.
"They'll open up your borders. You'll have people coming in from mental institutions, murderers," he said. "Twenty-five million people poured into the United States totally unchecked and unfettered. No checking, no vetting. They just walked right in. And many were very bad, hardened criminals."
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, "helped the Democrats do it, and if they win in the midterms, they're going to do it again," he added. "You'll have open borders again."
When a protester decrying the Trump administration's immigration policies interrupted his speech, the president suggested that "left-wing loser" Ossoff had paid the demonstrator to cause a scene.
Trump at times has acknowledged the political difficulty of calibrating his immigration crackdown, even as he continues to make hard-line enforcement a centerpiece of his message. Speaking at a White House Hispanic Heritage Month event last month, he described the pressure in almost contradictory terms.
"They'll say you're too tough, or you're too soft," Trump said. "Get tougher, get softer. No matter what you do, it's always tough."
The congressional district where Trump spoke is one of the most heavily Latino Republican-held House districts in Georgia. The area's flooring industry has long depended on immigrant labor, and many families include a mix of citizens, legal residents, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and undocumented immigrants.
Jackson's posture toward Trump has shifted with the campaign calendar. In the Republican primary, he pledged to become Trump's "favorite governor." In the general election, he has emphasized his independence, saying he would stand up to the president when necessary and increasingly invoking as a model Gov. Brian Kemp, who built his own political identity in part by defying Trump.
During Friday's rally, Jackson spoke for five minutes but didn't say the word "Trump" once, a notable turn for a man who once compared his bid to Trump's 2016 campaign, promised to be "this guy's favorite governor" and lead "like Trump, but with a Southern tone."
Instead, he stressed his own personal story and derided his opponent as a former mayor who had failed Atlanta.
Information for this article was contributed by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. of The Washington Post and Bill Barrow and Michelle L. Price of The Associated Press.