Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is going on defense as former President Donald Trump gains steam in blue states after Harris’s failure to achieve a post-convention bump, which most modern campaigns take for granted.
The campaign is sending Harris and her top surrogates — ticket mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and husband Doug Emhoff — to blue states after a weekend of planned swing state visits.
On Wednesday, Harris will reportedly visit New Hampshire — where she enjoyed only a four-point advantage, according to an Emerson College/WHDH survey before the convention — for a campaign event yet to be announced. Walz will be in his home state of Minnesota, where Trump has cut Harris’s lead from ten to only five points since Walz joined the ticket, according to two KTSP/SurveyUSA polls. Emhoff will reportedly cross the Potomac River for a fundraising trip in Virginia, another state where Trump has polled unexpectedly strong in the 2024 cycle.
Between today and Wednesday, the three Harris-Walz principals (Kamala, Tim, Doug) will be doing events in NH, MN & VA, the 3 Blue states Trump seemed to have put in play right before Biden got out. (No NM or NJ….yet). Coincidence? https://t.co/IqCyPlbByf
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) September 2, 2024
An occasional detour during the usual long campaign season is not irregular. However, these trips are noteworthy for a nascent campaign only cobbled together after President Joe Biden’s implosion that must make every day count with barely two months before Election Day.
The blue state visits follow a weekend of planned swing state visits and, before that, a multi-day joint Harris-Walz romp through Georgia that left many pundits scratching their heads.
The unconventional scheduling is on the heels of a terrible week, highlighted by the campaign’s trashing of 13 Gold Star families — an attack that blew up spectacularly in the campaign’s face.
Agreed! Now, to be clear, @DouglasEmhoff is raising money in Virginia & @Tim_Walz of course lives in Minnesota. But it still seems like a lot of activity in “safe” states. @KamalaHarris to New Hampshire alone is very interesting. If the reason is NOT bc D internals show the… https://t.co/mbNEFQljUd
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) September 2, 2024
In another sign that the campaign is flailing, it is reportedly planning to send Biden to the campaign trail.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll revealed Sunday that Harris received “no overall bounce in support” after formally accepting her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.