Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are headed to Georgia on a two-day bus tour that will end with a solo rally for the Democratic presidential nominee in Savannah after a break from the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
The tour will mark the first time the two campaigns will meet in the key swing state crucial to the Nov. 5 presidential election, with a stop scheduled for their first interview since Harris rose to the top of the ticket with CNN political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash.
While no polling has been released following the convention, the campaign saw an $82 million spike in donations in the week of the DNC, bringing the total raised since launching his candidacy in July to $540 million, according to his campaign.
With that momentum, Harris and Walz are scheduled to travel across southeastern Georgia, where they will meet with supporters, small business owners and voters in the state, the campaign said.
This will be his second road trip adventure following his stops in Pennsylvania before the DNC.
Current President Joe Biden narrowly won Georgia by about 12,000 votes in 2020, where former President Donald Trump remains heavily involved. So far, Harris is tied with the New York tycoon in the state, according to the 538 polling average, ABC News reported.
Before Biden dropped his re-election bid in July and endorsed Harris, polls showed Trump with a clear lead in Georgia, and some African American voters were disillusioned with Democrats.
Since then, however, the vice president has steadily gained ground in national polls.
Polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight show Harris just behind Trump, 46.0% to 46.6% in Georgia, compared to a nearly five-point lead for the Republican before the Democrat entered the race, Reuters reported.
“Campaigning in South Georgia is critical because it represents a diverse coalition of voters, including rural, suburban and urban Georgians, with a large share of Black voters and working-class families,” Harris-Walz Georgia State Director Porsha White said in a statement.
All of this is in addition to its 35,000 new volunteers, as well as more than 190 Democratic campaign staff members in 24 coordinated offices throughout the contested state, the officials said.
Through massive Get Out the Vote organizing efforts, African American voters were instrumental in Biden’s big win in a state that former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had largely overlooked in their respective campaigns.
The Harris-Walz tour is a testament to the fact that the campaign still feels as though all 16 electoral votes in the Peach State are up for grabs.
“In 2020, Georgia turned blue for the first time in three decades and we are harnessing the energy and working to win again in 2024,” White said in the memo.
Following the CNN interview, Walz will head to Massachusetts for a solo rally on Thursday.
Voters will see Harris and Walz, joined by their spouses (second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz), again for a Labor Day campaign in several key states before the ABC News debate on Sept. 10.
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