There are three weeks left in the presidential campaign, Democrat Kamala Harris spends most of her time trying to shore up support in the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as she tries to avoid a repeat of Hillary Clinton’s collapse eight years ago.
The Vice President Election campaign at an ice hockey stadium on Monday in Erie, Pennsylvania, where she denounced the Republican candidate Donald Trump as “out of control”. She visited an art gallery in Detroit with actors Don Cheadle, Delroy Lindo and Cornelius Smith. Jr. on Tuesday recorded a radio town hall with Charlemagne, the god.
Harris was on Wednesday back in Pennsylvania to emphasize her allegiance to the Constitution as she stood just steps from the banks of the Delaware River where George Washington crossed with his troops at a crucial moment in the Revolutionary War.
Your pace doesn’t slow down for the rest of the week. Harris is scheduled to hold three events in Wisconsin on Thursday, including a meeting with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students, and three more on Friday in Michigan. On Saturday she will campaign in Detroit.
A loss anywhere in the “blue wall,” a name that reflects the region’s traditional Democratic leanings, could derail Harris’ path to the presidency.
“You don’t take these states for granted. And it’s not,” said Joel Benenson, a Democratic pollster.
He was previously chief strategist for Clinton, whose campaign was so hubristic that he stopped conducting his own polls in the battlegrounds of the Midwest as the election approached.
“We learned a painful lesson in 2016 when we didn’t go to the ‘Blue Wall’ states and lost,” Benenson said.
Harris’ campaign emphasized that she is not giving up in Sun Belt battlegrounds like North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The vice president was in North Carolina over the weekend and is expected to be back in Georgia on Sunday.
But any candidate’s most valuable resource is time, and Harris’ schedule reflects the consensus about her most likely chance of winning the White House.
“It’s not the only path, but it’s the easiest path to victory,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.
She added: “If you can’t win Pennsylvania or Michigan, do you really think you can win Georgia or North Carolina?”
Pennsylvania and Michigan have been Harris’ most popular destinations since Labor Day, with eight stops in each state, according to an Associated Press tracking of the candidates’ public events.
At Harris’ Washington Crossing event on Wednesday, a voter said Democrats had discovered the price of complacency the hard way.
“In 2016, we thought we had it done, you know, we thought we were OK,” said Melanie Woods, a retired school principal who came all the way from Brooklyn. “And I don’t think you can ever take anything for granted anymore.”
Dan Kanninen, the Harris campaign’s battleground states director, said the vice president has “multiple paths” to win.
“All seven contested states are in play, and we know each will be incredibly close,” he said. “That’s why we will continue to aggressively engage and mobilize voters in all of these states leading up to Election Day.”
During her campaign trips, Harris tries to choose strategic areas to talk about key policies, such as promoting auto jobs and union membership in Detroit and a trip to Douglas, Arizona, to discuss plans to tighten rules for immigrants arriving seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border after walking along the high wall that separated the two countries.
The campaign is also increasingly relying on large organizing networks in key states, including coordinated offices with state Democratic parties, to fill the gaps when Harris is away. It uses key surrogates — most notably Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — to mitigate the impact of the decision to travel to one part of the country compared to another.
Democrats also have other advantages. There are a number of high-profile politicians united behind Harris, including former President Barack Obama, who has made campaign stops on her behalf. And there is a larger campaign coffers than Trump’s, allowing Harris to keep up the pressure through advertising and extensive voter turnout efforts.
The Democrats’ electoral chances fluctuated in this turbulent election year. President Joe Biden faced an increasingly shortening path to reelection as some purple states fell out of reach. But when he dropped out of the race in July, Harris’ team emphasized her potentially broader geographic appeal.
“Vice President Harris faces a tough race, but it is clear that she can bring together a coalition of voters to keep a broad range of states in play,” campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a late July memo.
But that doesn’t mean that some states aren’t more important than others.
“You win Pennsylvania and you’re the next president,” Sen. John Fetterman said at Harris’ rally in Erie.
Trump’s trip is less focused than Harris’s this week. He was in Pennsylvania on Monday, Illinois and Georgia on Tuesday and Florida on Wednesday.
He visits the Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday in New York and returns to Detroit on Friday
His previous visit there sparked a backlash because he criticized the citywhich is on the rise again after years of financial problems.
“Our whole country is going to end up like Detroit when she’s your president,” Trump said during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.
Tommey Walker, founder and owner of the clothing company Detroit vs. Everybody, mocked Trump for denigrating his city as he introduced Harris at an event on Tuesday.
“Now it’s Detroit versus Donald Trump,” Walker announced.
Harris, on the other hand, spoke about the city in a reverent tone. She recalled making friends with students from Detroit while attending Howard University.
“I just feel a kindred spirit when I come to Detroit,” Harris said.