SAVANNAH, Ga. — Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be making a statement by choosing Georgia for her first campaign trail swing following last week’s Democratic National Convention.

Harris on Wednesday kicked off a two-day bus swing through the southeastern part of the key battleground state accompanied by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Walz will head off to North Carolina for a Thursday evening fundraiser while Harris plans on “energizing thousands of Georgians at a rally in Savannah,” according to her campaign.

The vice president’s message is that Georgia is once again in play in November’s election.

THIS POPULAR GOP GOVERNOR SAYS HIS STATE’S A MUST WIN FOR TRUMP

Georgia has long been a reliably red state in White House elections, and Joe Biden narrowly edged then-President Trump in 2020 to become the first Democrat in nearly three decades to capture Georgia.

Fast-forward to this year’s election, and Trump saw his slight edge in the polls in Georgia over Biden grow to a solid single-digit lead after the president’s disastrous performance in their one debate, a late June showdown in Atlanta.

But in the 5½ weeks since the vice president replaced her boss atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, polls indicate that it’s once again a margin-of-error race in the Peach State.

A Fox News poll conducted August 23-26 in Georgia indicates Harris with a razor-thin 50%-48% edge over Trump among registered voters. The most recent Fox News poll in Georgia before Biden dropped out of the race indicated Trump topping the president by six points, 51%-45%.

NEW FOX NEWS POLL NUMBERS IN FOUR KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES 

Georgia’s popular two-term conservative governor agrees that his state’s competitive.

“Certainly this is a battleground state,” Gov. Brian Kemp emphasized in an exclusive Fox News Digital interview Tuesday.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that the road to the White House is going to run through Georgia. And there’s no path for former President Trump to win, or any Republican … to get to 270 without Georgia,” Kemp said.

But he added that Georgia “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out and make sure that we win this state in November.”

2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

So are the Democrats.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, poses for a photo with supporters at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Savannah, Ga., Aug. 28, 2024.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“The Georgia Democratic coordinated campaign is running the largest in-state operation of any Democratic presidential campaign cycle, with over 190 Democratic coordinated campaign staff in 24 coordinated offices across the state,” the Harris campaign touted hours ahead of the vice president’s arrival in Savannah.

This is Harris’ second stop in Georgia since taking over for Biden as the party’s standard-bearer. She previously hosted a large rally in downtown Atlanta.

But this time around, Harris is barnstorming through the southern part of the state, far from Atlanta and its growing suburbs, which make up nearly 60% of Georgia’s population. The traditional route for Democrats to win statewide in Georgia is to concentrate on metropolitan Atlanta. 

But Quentin Fulks, who was principal deputy campaign manager under Biden and has remained in that role with Harris, is following the playbook from two years ago when he steered Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s narrow re-election victory over GOP challenger Hershel Walker. The strategy is to not only win big in Atlanta and its suburbs, but also to stay competitive in the rest of the state.

“We have to make sure that we are competing everywhere across the state,” Fulks said Tuesday in an interview on MSNBC. “We’re going to continue to run in rural counties. …. We have to be statewide in that state and even compete in counties that Democrats don’t traditionally go. That is how you win statewide in Georgia.”

WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE 3 STATES

The Harris campaign noted that “campaigning in Southeast Georgia is critical as it represents a diverse coalition of voters, including rural, suburban and urban Georgians — with a large proportion of Black voters and working-class families.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to marching band members at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The first stop for Harris and Walz was Liberty County High School in Hinesville, where they met with the school’s administrators, faculty, students and stopped in on the school’s marching band rehearsal.

The vice president said she was in band when she was in high school, according to a pool report,  adding “all that practice makes for beautiful music … and that is a metaphor for everything that you will do in your lives”

The Republican National Committee took aim at Harris as her bus tour got underway.

“While our highly engaged and energetic operation in Georgia is focused on turning out votes across the entire state, Democrats in Georgia are finally learning an important lesson…there is more to Georgia than just Atlanta,” RNC spokesperson Morgan Ackley said.

Ackley emphasized that “Republicans from Catoosa to Camden County and everywhere in between are fired up and ready to re-elect President Donald J. Trump because his message of putting America first again resonates with Americans of all backgrounds.”

But the Harris campaign appears to enjoy a large organizational advantage over Trump’s team in Georgia. And Republican strategists agreed that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.

Former President Trump, right, is joined by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, during at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Trump last week praised Kemp as he worked to patch up differences he’s had with the Georgia governor dating back to the 2020 election.

Kemp on Thursday will join his wife, Georgia first lady Marty Kemp, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served in the Trump administration, to headline a fundraiser in Atlanta for the former president.

“It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” the governor argued.

“I believe Republicans need to stay focused on litigating Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s record. … We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

While support for Donald Trump has held steady, Kamala Harris has improved on Joe Biden’s 2024 election numbers in four battleground states, driven by strong support among women, Black voters, and young voters. In addition, while Trump leads on top issues, more voters see Harris as the one who can unite the country — and who will “fight for people like you.”  That’s according to new Fox News statewide surveys in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina.  

Each survey includes about 1,000 registered voters and was conducted August 23-26, post Democratic National Convention and just after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out and endorsed Trump.

The surveys, released Wednesday, find a close, two-way Harris-Trump race: Harris is up by 1 percentage point in Arizona and by 2 points in Georgia and Nevada, while Trump is ahead by 1 point in North Carolina. All are within the margin of sampling error.

In past Fox News surveys, Biden trailed Trump in each state: by 5 points in both Arizona and Nevada (June), by 6 in Georgia (April), and by 5 points in North Carolina (February). 

The new surveys find Trump achieves his 2020 vote percentage in the head-to-head race in every state except Georgia, while Harris meets or exceeds Biden’s 2020 vote share across the states.

In 2020, Trump won North Carolina by just over 1 point, while Biden narrowly won the other three states (Arizona and Georgia by less than 1 point and Nevada by over 2 points).

Overall, in an average of the four states, Harris is ahead of Trump by a single point in the two-way match-up, 50% to 49%. That 1-point Harris edge also holds among the 7 in 10 voters who say they are extremely motivated to cast a ballot this year.

“These results show Harris has succeeded at expanding the electoral map. When Biden was at the top of the ticket, the only pathway to an electoral college victory for the Democrat ticket was a sweep of the blue wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “That’s no longer the case with these Sun Belt states in play.” Anderson and Republican Daron Shaw makeup the bipartisan team that conducts Fox News surveys.

FOX NEWS POLL: NEW MATCHUP, SAME RESULT — TRUMP BESTS HARRIS BY ONE POINT

Harris receives 79% support among Black voters, 56% among Hispanics, 55% among those under age 30, and 51% among voters ages 65 and over. These numbers represent an improvement on Biden’s numbers in these Sun Belt states and approach what he ultimately achieved in 2020, according to the Fox News Voter Analysis election survey. 

There is a 22-point gender gap, as women prefer Harris by 11 points and men back Trump by 11.

Trump is carrying 65% of Whites without a college degree, 60% of rural voters, and 42% of Hispanics — about the same as in 2020. He’s at 77% among White evangelical Christians, down from 83%. Yet, his support among Black voters has nearly tripled, from 7% to 19%.

Democrats are a touch more likely to back Harris (96%) than Republicans are to support Trump (94%), while Independents favor Harris by 6 points. Equal numbers of Trump’s 2020 supporters stick with him (94%) as Biden’s 2020 backers favor Harris (94%).

Harris is ahead by 8 points among voters who moved to their state in the last 10 years, while the much larger group of long-time residents prefers Trump by 1 point.

Among new voters (those who haven’t voted in a general election since before 2016), Harris is up by 1 point.  

When third-party candidates Chase Oliver, Jill Stein, and Cornel West are included in the vote preference, Harris keeps her 1-point edge over Trump, 48-47%. Notably, three out of four voters with a favorable view of RFK Jr. back Trump.

By a 7-point margin, more voters see Harris as the candidate who will unite the country.  Most Democrats (94%) feel that way, as do over half of Independents (52%) and a handful of Republicans (9%).  

Voters are more divided over who will “fight for people like you,” as 50% say Harris and 47% Trump. And despite Harris being the incumbent vice president, voters put her on par with Trump for “bringing needed change” (49% Harris, 48% Trump).

“Harris’ campaign has accomplished something that seemed impossible three weeks ago: she is seen as the change candidate despite being the incumbent vice-president at a time when there is considerable anxiety about the state of the country and the administration’s ratings are dismal,” says Shaw. “For the moment, they have re-made what was a re-election campaign for Biden into a referendum on Trump.” 

More voters trust Trump on two of the three top issues, the economy and immigration, while Harris has a wide lead on abortion. She’s also favored on health care, while Trump is the choice to handle the Israel-Hamas war.  In general, Trump’s issue leads have narrowed compared to his standing earlier this year, while Harris has expanded on Biden’s advantages.

Four voters in 10 say the economy will be the most important issue to their vote for president. Immigration and abortion are next, but they trail the economy by nearly 30 points. All other issues are in the single digits.  

The Democratic ticket performs better on personal favorability ratings, as more Sun Belt voters view Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz favorably than unfavorably by 3 points, while Harris has a net negative rating by 1 point. The ratings for both Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance are underwater by 5 points.  About 1 in 10 have never heard of Walz or Vance. Views of both Harris and Trump in these states are nearly identical to what they were in the 2020 Fox News Voter Analysis.  

Ratings of Biden’s job performance are negative: 42% of voters approve and 58% disapprove. Among the 13% who “somewhat” disapprove of Biden’s job performance, Harris is up by 7 points over Trump in the two-way contest. 

FOX NEWS POLL: DEAD HEAT BETWEEN HARRIS AND TRUMP IN MICHIGAN

“Campaigns experience a bump in poll numbers after their convention and that typically dissipates in the month following — and that could be what happens here, but this isn’t a traditional campaign,” says Anderson. “A lot of people thought Harris received a bump after Biden dropped out, but that has endured.”

Democrats in down-ballot races outpace Harris, while Republicans trail Trump

In down-ballot races in Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina, the Democratic candidate leads by double digits, overperforming Harris by at least 5 points while the Republican candidate trails Trump by 7 or more. In the Arizona Senate race, Democrat Ruben Gallego leads Republican Kari Lake by 56-41%. Democrat Jacky Rosen bests Republican Sam Brown by 55-41% in the Nevada Senate race. In the North Carolina gubernatorial race, Democrat Josh Stein tops Republican Mark Robinson by 54-43%.  

In Arizona & Nevada, three-quarters favor abortion referendum

Arizona and Nevada will have ballot initiatives on abortion rights this November. The surveys show three-quarters of voters in each state will vote yes. That includes at least half of Republicans (50% in Arizona and 54% in Nevada). Among the only ones against the initiatives are self-defined “very” conservative.

Toplines & Crosstabs

Combined States: Topline, Crosstabs
Arizona: Topline, Crosstabs
Georgia: Topline, Crosstabs 
Nevada: Topline, Crosstabs
North Carolina: Topline, Crosstabs

More Fox News survey results can be found here. 

The Fox News Poll is conducted under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R). The battleground surveys were conducted August 23-26, 2024, and included 4,053 registered voters randomly selected from statewide voter files in Arizona (1,014), Georgia (1,014), Nevada (1,026), and North Carolina (999). In Arizona and Nevada, respondents were given the option of completing the interview in English or Spanish. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines and cellphones or completed the survey online after receiving a text. Results based on the combined sample have a margin of sampling error of ±1.5 percentage points, while for each individual state it is ±3 percentage points. The sampling error is higher among subgroups. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. In the combined results, each state is weighted proportionate to its share of the total number of registered voters across the four states.  

NASA officials announced on Saturday that the troubled Boeing Starliner spacecraft that shuttled two astronauts to space in June will return to earth without them.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck in space after engineers discovered helium leaks and issues involving thrusters shortly after Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner docked with the International Space Station, which prompted NASA and Boeing to investigate.

The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight back to earth, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew, NASA officials said. 

HOW BOEING STARLINER ASTRONAUTS STUCK IN SPACE COULD GET HOME AND WHEN

“The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters. 

“I’m grateful to both the NASA and Boeing teams for all their incredible and detailed work.”

The pair originally blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5, on a test flight mission that was initially expected to last a week.

NASA-BOEING STARLINER LAUNCH WAS ‘SPECTACULAR,’ MISSION WENT AS PLANNED UNTIL DAY 2, ASTRONAUTS SAY

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will not be returning to earth with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that shuttled them to the International Space Station. (NASA)

They will now return with a SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon mission, which will not launch before Sept. 24 as that mission needs to reduce its crew of four to two to make room for the stranded astronauts, who are expected to return in February 2025. The Crew-9 mission will carry additional cargo as well as Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams, as their Boeing spacesuits are incompatible with the SpaceX spacecraft. 

Since the problems were identified, engineering teams have been poring over data, conducting flight and ground testing, as well as developing various return contingency plans. 

The uncertainty and lack of expert agreement about being able to return the crew safely on the Starliner prompted NASA leadership to move the astronauts to the Crew-9 mission.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and land back on earth autonomously in early September, which it is designed to do. The spacecraft has completed two uncrewed flights in the past.  

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said Starliner is a very capable spacecraft and, ultimately, the decision came down to needing a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return.

“The NASA and Boeing teams have completed a tremendous amount of testing and analysis, and this flight test is providing critical information on Starliner’s performance in space,” Stich said.

“Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will greatly benefit future corrective actions for the spacecraft.”