Kamala Harris returns to the campaign trail on Wednesday with a blitz in the swing state of Georgia, hoping to translate the momentum she gained at the Democratic National Convention into a solid lead against Donald Trump.
The US Vice President is embarking on a bus tour through the important southern state with her running mate Tim Walz. It is her first campaign appearance since she accepted her party’s nomination with a stirring speech in Chicago.
On Thursday, the two will give an interview to CNN. It will be Harris’ first interview since the start of her campaign, a topic that Republicans have used to accuse her of being too scared.
Harris will also hold a solo rally in the city of Savannah, Georgia, to “make voters aware of the tough choice they face” in this election that remains on a knife edge and will be decided by just a handful of swing states.
Republican Trump will campaign in Michigan, another crucial battleground, on Thursday and will also give a speech on the economy.
Harris, 59, is still benefiting from the support she received at the Democratic National Convention, where a resurgent party celebrated her nomination just a month after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Harris insists she remains the underdog as she and former President Trump embark on a 10-week sprint for the White House.
Although she is slightly ahead in the polls, having closed on Trump’s lead in a single tumultuous month, her lead is still within the margin of error even as she hopes for a typical post-convention surge.
Her campaign is currently firmly focused on seven battleground states where she believes the race will be won or lost – and Georgia is once again one of the most hotly contested states.
Biden won Georgia for the Democrats in 2020 for the first time in nearly three decades, by a razor-thin margin of less than 12,000 votes.
Trump now faces charges in Georgia for alleged attempts to overturn the election result.
– ‘Optimistic’ –
On their bus tour through southern Georgia, Harris and Walz want to appeal to a “diverse coalition” that includes many black voters and working-class families, their campaign team said.
Harris will then use her rally in Savannah to contrast Trump’s “dark and dangerous” agenda with her own “optimistic and patriotic vision for a new way forward.”
While in Georgia, Harris and Walz will conduct an interview with CNN on Thursday, the network said. The interview will air the same day in prime time at 9 p.m. (1 a.m. GMT Friday).
Harris’ camp has so far let the excitement surrounding her nomination speak for itself. The candidate has kept her political views vague and limited her interactions with the media to a minimum.
Following the party convention, the US election campaign is in full swing.
During a visit to a steel mill in Potterville, Michigan on Thursday, Trump will attack Harris’ “dangerously liberal policies.”
On the US holiday (Labor Day) on Monday, Biden and Harris will appear together for the first time since the party convention in the important state of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh.
They would “underscore the importance of American workers and unions,” the campaign said, as they fight for workers’ votes.
Then an important milestone looms on the horizon: the first debate between Trump and Harris on September 10.
Neither candidate will forget that it was 81-year-old Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump in a debate on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia, that ultimately knocked him out of the race for the White House.
The debate is scheduled to be broadcast on ABC in Philadelphia, despite disagreements over the format and repeated threats by 78-year-old Trump to withdraw.
Harris’ campaign claimed that Trump’s camp made efforts to keep the microphones turned off during the debate to protect him from making offensive comments or throwing a tantrum.
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