United States Vice President, Kamala Harris, is set to make her initial visit to Georgia as a presidential candidate on Tuesday, where she plans to campaign alongside rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
With under 100 days remaining in a notably unpredictable election season, Democrats are reassessing voter preferences in key battleground states and strategising a new path to victory. Georgia, which Democrats narrowly won in the fiercely contested 2020 election, is now considered a potential target for the 2024 race.
Harris is scheduled to hold a campaign event in Atlanta at 7:00 p.m. EDT (12: 00 am WAT), though the White House has not disclosed further details. Megan Thee Stallion is expected to join Harris in Atlanta, as reported by Billboard and Rolling Stone.
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff mentioned on MSNBC that Harris’s involvement has made Georgia a viable state for Democrats and expressed confidence in her potential success.
Swing states like Georgia are critical because they can swing either way between Republicans and Democrats, making them crucial in presidential elections.
Current polls from FiveThirtyEight show Republican Donald Trump leading Harris by one to five percentage points since she emerged as the likely Democratic nominee.
President Joe Biden, having ended his reelection bid on July 22, endorsed Harris for the November 5 election against Trump.
Since then, Harris’s campaign has raised $200 million, recruited 170,000 new volunteers, and has shown strong performance in recent polls among young, Black, and Hispanic voters.
A New York Times/Siena College poll published on Thursday shows Harris has reduced Trump’s significant lead; a Wall Street Journal poll on Friday shows Trump ahead by just two percentage points. A Reuters/Ipsos poll from July 23 indicates Harris leading by two points.
Biden’s campaign faced challenges with Sun Belt states like Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada appearing less likely to secure wins. In 2020, Georgia supported Biden by a narrow margin of 0.2 percentage points, or about 12,000 votes, and Trump, by approximately 5 percentage points in 2016.
Andy Beshear, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, visited Georgia over the weekend to support Harris in the traditionally Republican Forsyth County.
The Harris campaign is evaluating potential vice presidential candidates, including Beshear, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota, with a decision expected by August 7.
Harris is emphasising her background as a former district attorney and California attorney general to contrast with Trump, who faces felony convictions for his alleged role in attempts to overturn Biden’s narrow win in Georgia.
Nancy Mbamalu
Source: Reuters
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