Next week, Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota will begin a bus tour of southern Georgia. This will be the first time the two have campaigned in the state together and their first public appearance since the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Into the final several months of the general election, the two will be riding high on the enthusiasm from the party convention. According to two people familiar with the plans, Harris and Walz are anticipated to tape their first joint interview the next week in addition to participating in a number of fundraisers, which are most likely to be held in New York, California, Florida, and Georgia.
Harris will be the main attraction at a solo rally in Savannah, Georgia, after the tour. Harris will be making her second visit to the state since beginning her presidential campaign last month, making this her eighth visit this year.
The Harris-Walz campaign stated in a press release announcing the bus tour that “This region of the Peach State is crucial for campaigning since it is home to a broad coalition of Georgians, many of whom are working-class families and Black voters. These voters come from rural, suburban, and urban Georgia.”
The Republican ticket is stepping up its campaigning in the state, and Harris and Walz will be visiting at this time. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the vice presidential candidate, attended a campaign event in Valdosta on Thursday after former President Donald Trump’s rally in Atlanta earlier in the month. Republicans have also attempted to take advantage of polling data suggesting that, in this election cycle, the party may gain a greater proportion of Black and Latino votes.
The campaign’s bus tour of southern Georgia is anticipated to be similar to its bus tour of western Pennsylvania earlier in the month, which included visits to a high school football practice, a firehouse, and a local campaign field office.
Tropical Storm Debby forced Harris and Walz to cancel their scheduled visit to Savannah earlier this month, which was part of the campaign’s battleground state tour.
The exact destinations of Harris and Walz remain unknown, but southern Georgia is home to some of the state’s greatest Black populations, including Dougherty County, which has the second-highest percentage of Black people. The mostly Black cities of Albany and Valdosta now have field offices run by the campaign.
“The campaign is prioritizing the south Georgia region. We employ close to fifty full-time staff members in seven locations in the region, including Valdosta. Since May 31, we have organized over 500 events in the area, according to Adelaide Bullock, a spokesman for the Harris-Walz Georgia campaign.
Appealing to Black voters in both rural and urban regions will be crucial to Harris’ success in the state, as it was to Biden’s triumph in 2020, according to Ranada Robinson, research director of the New Georgia Project Fund.
“Black voters hold the key to Georgia’s victory.” While Black Georgians undoubtedly cannot accomplish this on their own, we are mostly responsible for how 2020 transpired, the speaker stated. “Historically, black voters turned out to vote; a repeat of that is necessary for Georgia to win.”
Megan Thee Stallion made an appearance at Harris’s second presidential campaign rally earlier this month in Atlanta, which the campaign claimed drew over 10,000 attendees.
It then started a state-wide mobilization campaign, and as of right now, it boasts 24 well-coordinated campaign offices spread over Georgia, 174 staff members, and about 400,000 volunteers. “Georgia’s largest-ever in-state democratic presidential campaign operation” is how the campaign describes its ground game there.
Georgia was named as one of the campaign’s primary priorities by Jen O’Malley Dillon, head of the Harris campaign, who also noted that the state’s changing demographics would help the vice president increase support starting in 2020.
In a recent memo, Dillon stated, “Our several routes to 270 electoral votes will depend on the Vice President’s advantages with young, Black, and Latino voters.”
Along with barnstorming battleground states, Harris and Walz are anticipated to spend additional time preparing for debates before Harris takes on Trump in September. This is anticipated to happen around Labor Day.
According to a Trump aide, Harris is expected to experience a “bump” following the convention, but the campaign compares it to a “sugar high” and doesn’t think it will affect the race’s overall dynamics.