Kamala Harris camp bullish on its ‘battleground’ strategy ahead of Trump’s Georgia rally

The presidential race is likely to be decided in a handful of swing states, and Saturday began with a Kamala Harris aide expressing confidence her campaign can make the case in those electoral battlegrounds over Donald Trump.

With the former president and his running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance headed Saturday to Atlanta, Harris for President Battleground States Director Dan Kanninen noted in a memo to “interested parties” the presumptive Democratic nominee had already been there and done that — and signed up people willing to work for Harris’ election in the process.

“Last weekend, we mobilized the campaign’s biggest organizing push yet across the battleground states to talk directly to the voters who will decide this election. And, we didn’t stop there. The momentum continued this week. We saw over 1,000 Georgia volunteers sign up to get involved with the campaign at the Vice President’s rally in Atlanta,” Kanninen contends.

This is, he adds, part of a larger effort beyond the Peach State, in which “volunteers have placed 2.3 million phone calls, knocked 172,000 doors, and sent nearly 2.9 million text messages to voters in battleground states.”

The ultimate meaning of those engagement metrics remains to be seen with more than 90 days before votes are counted, but Kanninen is confident nonetheless that “Harris is strong in both the Sunbelt and the Blue Wall — with multiple pathways to 270” due to “grassroots engagement” and “strong enthusiasm” borne out by the data, which include 62,000 volunteer shift signups, with more than half from first-time volunteers.

Kanninen asserts Harris’ campaign is putting in resources the other side isn’t matching.

“Trump is running a flailing campaign with no vision for the future, his brand new running mate is depressing Republican enthusiasm, and with only three months until Election Day, his campaign still lags far behind in the infrastructure needed to win in key battleground states. For example, in Nevada, Team Harris has 13 offices, while Trump has just one. In Pennsylvania, we have 36 coordinated offices while Trump has just 3. In Georgia, we have 24 offices while the Trump team didn’t open their first until June.”

Georgia, of course, could be the ultimate battleground, as evidenced by Trump and Vance heading to Georgia State University Saturday afternoon and Harris’ own visit to Savannah slated for Friday. 

The GOP nominee is projecting confidence ahead of that event.

“24 HOURS UNTIL WE UNLEASH HELL,” asserted Trump in an email sent to supporters Friday, The Hill reported. “At this time tomorrow, Crooked Kamala’s worst nightmares come true.”

A PollingPlus (InsiderAdvantage and Trafalgar Group) Georgia survey released Friday reveals Trump up 49% to 47% in a margin-of-error race in what the pollsters say is “likely the bellwether state” in the election, with analysis seemingly corroborating Kanninen’s points.

“The emergence of Kamala Harris flipped prior demographic trends in the state. Senior voters moved more to the Trump column, while independent voters drifted more towards Harris. African American voters appeared to consolidate behind Harris, while Trump enjoyed a large lead among white voters,” the pollsters assert.

Other recent surveys show even a closer race.

Polling released a couple days ago from Bloomberg-Morning Consult shows a 47% to 47% tie in Georgia. The survey, which took other battleground states into account, showed Harris up in four of them (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin) and Trump leading in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

The fight for the battlegrounds continues Tuesday in one of those states Trump leads, meanwhile, with Harris to announce her running mate in Philadelphia. Perhaps coincidentally, Gov. Josh Shapiro is among the leading contenders for that No. 2 spot. 

For his part, Trump posted to Truth Social Friday that he’s agreed to a Fox News debate with Harris in the Keystone State with a “full arena audience.” But Harris hasn’t agreed to that proposal yet.