Anika Begay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will take her presidential campaign to the critical state of Pennsylvania on Sunday before heading to Chicago, where the Democratic Party is expected to nominate her to challenge Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election this week.
Opinion polls have shown that Harris will bring new energy to the campaign and close the gap with former President Trump both nationally and in several of the eight highly competitive states, including Pennsylvania, that will play a decisive role in choosing Democratic President Joe Biden’s successor.
“I’ve been to every convention since I could vote, and I can say I’ve never felt this kind of energy and electricity at any convention other than Barack Obama,” Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
Obama was elected the historic first black president of the United States in 2008. Harris, who is black and of Asian descent, would be the first female president if she wins in November.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are planning a bus tour that will start in Pittsburgh and make several stops throughout the day in Allegheny and Beaver counties, areas her campaign says are key to winning Pennsylvania.
The trip comes a day after Trump gave a speech in northeastern Pennsylvania, where he derided Harris as a “radical” and a “lunatic,” saying he believed she would be easier to beat than Biden, 81, who dropped out last month under pressure from his own party after a disastrous debate against Trump.
Pennsylvania was one of three Rust Belt states, along with Wisconsin and Michigan, that contributed to Republican Trump’s surprising victory in the 2016 election.
Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, brought the trio back to Democrats in 2020, and Harris is aiming to keep them.
After her appearances in Pennsylvania, Harris will travel to Chicago on Monday for the start of the Democratic National Convention.
Sources said Saturday that she is likely to join Biden on stage at Monday’s convention, when he passes the baton to her as the party’s nominee for president.
Trump’s campaign will try to counter-program the convention with a series of events in key states this week. He will visit a manufacturing plant in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday, where his campaign says it will focus on the economy, and a county sheriff’s office in Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday to talk about safety and crime.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, will travel to Asheboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday to deliver a speech on national security, while on Friday Trump will join Turning Point Action, a group founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, for a rally in Glendale, Arizona, aimed in part at highlighting efforts to increase voter turnout.
Trump supporters said they hope he will focus his campaign on policy rather than the repeated personal attacks against Harris that he has relied on heavily in the weeks since she emerged as the Democratic nominee.
“President Trump can win this election. His policies are good for America and if you have a political debate he wins. Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,” Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Politics is the key to the White House.”
