WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign in the key presidential state of Pennsylvania on Sunday before traveling to Chicago, where Democrats are expected to nominate her this week to face President Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Polls show Harris bringing new energy to the campaign, narrowing the gap with former President Trump nationally and in many of eight battleground states, including Pennsylvania, which will play a decisive role in choosing Democratic President Joe Biden’s successor.
“I’ve been to every caucus since I got the right to vote, and I’ve never felt this kind of energy and enthusiasm except for Barack Obama’s caucus,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Obama was elected as the first black president in US history in 2008. Harris, who is black and of Asian descent, would become the first woman to hold the presidency if she wins the November election.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are planning a bus tour leaving Pittsburgh with several daytime stops in Allegheny and Beaver counties, which her campaign sees as crucial to winning Pennsylvania.
The visit came a day after Trump spoke in northeastern Pennsylvania, where he blasted Harris as an “extremist” and a “crazy person” and said he believed she would be easier to beat than the 81-year-old Biden, who withdrew under pressure from his own party after suffering a disastrous debate defeat against Trump last month.
Pennsylvania is one of three Rust Belt states, along with Wisconsin and Michigan, that contributed to Republican Donald Trump’s comeback victory in the 2016 election.
Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, brought all three back to the Democratic Party in 2020, and Harris is aiming to retain their support.
After her speech in Pennsylvania, Harris is due to travel to Chicago for the opening of the Democratic National Convention on Monday.
Sources said Saturday that she is likely to take the stage at the party’s convention on Monday, where Biden will hand her the baton as the presidential nominee.
The Trump campaign is planning a series of events in battleground states this week to build its counter-strategy for the convention. Trump will visit a manufacturing plant in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday that the campaign says will focus on the economy, and he is scheduled to visit the Howell County, Michigan, sheriff’s office on Tuesday to speak about safety and crime.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, are in Asheboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday to speak about national security, and on Friday Trump will join Turning Point Action, a group founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, for a rally in Glendale, Arizona, that is also intended to highlight voter turnout efforts.
Trump’s supporters said they hoped he would refocus his campaign to focus on policy rather than the frequent personal attacks on Harris that he has focused on 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 policy debate, he’s going to win. Donald Trump, the provocateur and the showman, may not win this election,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Policies are the key to the White House.”
