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With the US presidential race merely weeks away, Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has decided to target red states and rural regions. The strategy? To narrow the already narrow margins for her opponent, the former president, Donald Trump.
With the US presidential election just weeks away, Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has decided to target red states and rural regions. The strategy? To narrow the already narrow margins for her opponent, the former president, Donald Trump.
CNN reported that Harris is looking to target regions and counties where Trump does not have overwhelming winning margins. That would explain her presence in Ripon, Wisconsin on Thursday.
“We got to turn out folks, obviously, in base Democratic areas, but we also need to persuade a lot of people,” said Harris campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen. “Shaving margins where you can, in counties that maybe Trump won 70-30, but if we can lose them 60-40 or 65-35, that makes a big difference over dozens of counties in a state.”
The plan is to target regions where there might be fewer Democrats but more dissatisfied Republican voters. To achieve that goal, Harris’s team is planning to host numerous events to appeal to voters not overly in favour of Trump. The events are expected to happen in critical states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
It’s a tactic Harris’s campaign has deployed wherever possible to win credibility with the other side, flaunting Republican endorsements and support. The latest example was Harris campaigning with former Republican Liz Cheney.
But of more significance was perhaps where they chose to make their appearance — Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party. Fond du Lac County, which includes Ripon, voted 62%-36% in favour of Trump in the 2020 presidential elections.
“I was a Republican even before Donald Trump started spray tanning,” Cheney joked at the event in Wisconsin. “I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney said, her first vote ever for a Democrat.
In addition to the planned events, Harris’ campaign is willing to bank on their campaign facilities and capital and hope they will help swing the election their way. This includes multiple field offices, which allows multiple stops for Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, when on the road.
“We have 16 offices in counties that Trump won by double digits because we’re not taking any place for granted,” Harris campaign senior adviser for Pennsylvania, Brendan McPhillips, told CNN. “If you win five votes, five extra votes in a county that Trump won by double digits, it’s the same as the five votes you win in Philadelphia,” he added. “But you have to go everywhere to get them, and it matters to people that you show up to their community, and you engage in an honest conversation and a back and forth.”
INDIA TODAY