Harris, Walz to Hit ‘Blue Wall’ Swing States in Weeklong Push
Amid signs that her support among Black voters – especially men – is weaker than it’s been for other recent Democratic presidential nominees, Harris is in a four-day wave of outreach to them.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will spend the coming week criss-crossing Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the trio of battleground states that are key to most of their paths to the White House.
The Democratic ticket is turning its attention to the “Blue Wall” battleground states for a round of campaigning in the relative calm before it ramps up get-out-the-vote activities in the final two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 5. Polls suggest the race is close in all three states, which Donald Trump won in 2016 and President Joe Biden took in 2020.
“It is a tight race. It is a margin-of-error race,” the vice president told reporters Saturday as she prepared to travel to North Carolina. But, she added, “the choice is clear.”
Amid signs that her support among Black voters – especially men – is weaker than it’s been for other recent Democratic presidential nominees, Harris is in a four-day wave of outreach to them.
She met with Black elected, faith and community leaders at a barbecue restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday night. Harris plans to spend Sunday morning at a church in Greenville, just as her campaign launched its “Souls to the Polls” push to encourage Black churchgoers to cast ballots.
Harris’ support among Black likely voters stood at 78% in a national New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday, less than the roughly nine out of 10 who had voted for the past few Democratic nominees.
Her focus shifts to the Rust Belt at the start of the week with travel to Erie, Pennsylvania, for a stop with Black men and a rally. Harris will spend Tuesday in Detroit for a meeting with Black entrepreneurs and a town hall-style event led by Charlamagne Tha God, the co-host of The Breakfast Club, a syndicated radio show targeting a Black audience.
“I want local voices from Detroit and voices from all the battleground states to get the opportunity to ask Vice President Kamala Harris some questions,” he said on Friday. “I know we got some pressing issues to talk about. The future of the nation is decided by who we elect.”
Trump, Harris’ Republican opponent who’s seeking a second term as president, has scheduled a town hall on Monday at Oaks, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia exurbs. He’s due in Atlanta on Tuesday for a campaign speech.
Harris will return to Pennsylvania on Wednesday and hit Wisconsin on Thursday – with stops in Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay. She plans to be back in Michigan on Friday to campaign in Grand Rapids, Lansing and Oakland County, and will kick off Detroit’s early-voting period on Saturday.
Walz, the vice presidential nominee and Minnesota governor, will be in Wisconsin on Monday to kick off a bus tour with fellow Democratic governors and in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Later in the week, he’ll travel outside the “Blue Wall” states for stops in two North Carolina cities. On Saturday, he’ll visit Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
