ATLANTA — Joe Biden said it himself Tuesday.

“There aren’t a lot of pundits that would have guessed four years ago that a Democratic candidate for president would be campaigning in Georgia on the final week of the election,” the Democratic presidential candidate told the crowd. “Or that we’d have such competitive Senate races in Georgia, but we do.”

Hundreds of cars carrying nearly 800 people crowded into the Cellairis Amphitheater in Lakewood to see the former vice president speak following a star-studded line-up of Georgian politicians. In the past weeks, multiple polls have showed both the presidential and two Senate races in Georgia as close contests — ramping up Democratic enthusiasm throughout the state.

With Biden and Donald Trump neck-and-neck in the fight for the Peach State, Georgia Republicans have entered defense mode as the state’s Democrats urge high voter turnout to continue.

Within the first two weeks of early, in-person voting, Dr. Jill Biden, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and now Biden himself made visits to Georgia to boost support.

“I can’t tell you how important it is to flip the United States Senate,” Biden said. “There’s no state more consequential than Georgia in that fight.”

Both Rev. Raphael Warnock — the leading Democrat in the Senate special election — and Jon Ossoff — who’s challenging incumbent David Perdue — campaigned Tuesday in Jonesboro as well as gave opening speeches at Biden’s Atlanta rally.

Biden heavily criticized Trump’s handling of the pandemic and touted protections for pre-existing conditions during his speech Tuesday. Health care has become the main issue for Democratic candidates both up and down the ballot as coronavirus cases remain prevalent and have started to rise.

“Donald Trump has waved the white flag, abandoned our families and surrendered to this virus. But the American people don’t give up, they don’t give in and, surely, they don’t cower. And neither will I,” he said. “I will put in place a plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly.”

Republicans promote a widespread claim that if Biden were elected, he would shut the economy down, hurting American businesses and workers. Biden addressed those claims and said he would focus on testing and implementing widespread mask use.

“I’m not going to shut down the economy, I’m not going to shut down the country, I’m going to shut down the virus,” he said.

Before his appearance in front of the large crowd in Atlanta, Biden traveled to Warm Springs — a small town where Franklin D. Roosevelt received treatment for polio because of the hot springs that bubble there. While there, Biden argued the nation is not so divided it can’t be unified.

“Has the heart of this nation turned to stone?” Biden asked. “I don’t think so. I refuse to believe it.”

The campaign has its eyes on Georgia’s electoral votes after the state has emerged as a 2020 battleground despite not having backed a Democratic candidate for president since 1992.

But at both of his Georgia events, Trump supporters counter-protested.

Since the start of early voting Oct. 12, more than 3 million Peach State voters have already cast ballot whether in person or via absentee. The consequential election comes not only amid a pandemic but after nationwide protests during the summer over police brutality and racial injustice.

Biden said the protests are “a cry for justice from communities that have long had the knee of injustice on their neck.”

“The names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake will not soon be forgotten,” he said. “Not by me. Not by us. Not by this country.”