Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will travel across South Georgia on Wednesday, the pair\u2019s second bus tour in two weeks and the first burst of campaigning since the Democratic National Convention ended last Thursday.<\/p>\n
The tour, which will end with a Harris rally in Savannah on Thursday, is the campaign\u2019s latest effort to compete in Georgia, which has become a particularly critical battleground in the month since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.<\/p>\n
It also reflects Harris\u2019s effort to go beyond large urban areas to court votes in suburban and rural communities, a strategy that reflects the growing importance of boosting turnout in Democratic strongholds while holding down margins in traditionally Republican counties, said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot neglect the southern part of the state of Georgia and think you can win,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to run up high margins in traditionally Democratic areas like Atlanta, and you also have to hold your own in traditionally Republican areas, recognizing that there are Democrats everywhere in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019s campaign has not said specifically where she and Walz will travel during the tour, but aides said their visit would showcase the diversity of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cCampaigning in this part of the Peach State is critical as it represents a diverse coalition of voters, including rural, suburban, and urban Georgians \u2014 with a large proportion of Black voters and working class families,\u201d the campaign said in a statement announcing the tour.<\/p>\n
Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, becoming the first Democrat to do so since Bill Clinton in 1992. But many Democrats had privately given up on the idea of carrying the state in November, with polls showing former president Donald Trump with a consistent lead over Biden in the state. Those same polls have largely shifted in Democrats\u2019 favor since Harris entered the race, and the party is investing more time and resources in Georgia as it attempts to block Trump\u2019s potential pathways to 270 electoral votes. The Washington Post\u2019s polling average has Trump leading in Georgia by three percentage points.<\/p>\n
Both Democrats and Republicans have focused on Georgia in recent weeks, as Trump and Harris each see its 16 electoral votes as crucial for most paths to victory.<\/p>\n
Harris traveled to Atlanta last month for a rally that featured rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo, drawing more than 10,000 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very clear: The path to the White House runs right through this state,\u201d Harris said at the event. \u201cYou all helped us win in 2020, and we\u2019re going to do it again in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, held a rally a few days later in the same venue, speaking to a near-capacity crowd.<\/p>\n
The bus tour is expected to feature more intimate settings and smaller groups, following the template Harris and Walz set while traveling through Western Pennsylvania on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n
During that swing, Harris and Walz greeted supporters at an airport hangar, dropped in on a high school football practice, handed out baked goods to firefighters, met with volunteers and made campaign phone calls. The trip took them to Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh and a large cache of Democratic voters, as well as Beaver County, a more Republican-leaning area that Trump carried in 2020.<\/p>\n
Vance visited Valdosta in South Georgia on Thursday, calling the state \u201cone of the most important\u201d to the outcome of the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cKamala Harris wants to take San Francisco liberalism nationwide and I think we\u2019re not going to let her,\u201d he said as he met with local law enforcement at an event focused on crime and the border. \u201cGeorgia is not going to let her, and I think it starts right here in Valdosta.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the Democratic National Convention, Harris\u2019s campaign sought to court Republican voters, giving a speaking slot to Georgia\u2019s former lieutenant governor, Geoff Duncan.<\/p>\n
Duncan, who clashed with Trump over the former president\u2019s efforts to overturn the election results in 2020, used his speech to urge his fellow Republicans to \u201cdump Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you vote for Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are a patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris will need the support of some moderate and conservative voters to win the state of Georgia, where Republicans outnumber Democrats, Gillespie said. Going on a bus tour outside of Atlanta\u2019s metropolitan area is one way to try to reach some of those voters, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocrats are competitive because there are now more Democrats than there used to be and also because there is a subset of Republicans who are not prepared to vote for a particularly compromised Republican opponent,\u201d she said. \u201cDemographically speaking, this is a play for those conflicted voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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