Harris campaigns in Georgia, as some Democrats see new hope

[July 30, 2024]  By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala Harris makes her first trip to Georgia as a presidential candidate Tuesday, where she is expected to rally with rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

With less than 100 days left in one of the least predictable campaign seasons in recent history, Democrats are polling voters in swing states anew and redrawing their map to victory. Some Democrats now see Georgia, which Democrats barely won in a hard-fought battle in 2020, as a possible victory again in 2024.

Harris will hold a political event in Atlanta at 7:00 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT), the White House said, without providing more details. Megan Thee Stallion will join Harris in Atlanta, Billboard and Rolling Stone reported, citing a source.

Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff said on MSNBC over the weekend that Harris' entry into the race "has put Georgia in play" for Democrats and predicted she will win.

Swing states like Georgia are fiercely contested because they can lean either to Republicans or Democrats and play a decisive role in presidential elections.

FiveThirtyEight, the poll aggregation site, shows Republican Donald Trump leading Harris by between one and five percentage points in surveys taken after Harris became the likely Democratic candidate.

President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on July 22 and endorsed Harris for the Nov. 5 vote against Trump. Since then, Harris's election campaign has raised $200 million, signed up 170,000 new volunteers and she has significantly outperformed Biden in recent polling among young people, Black voters and Hispanic voters.

A New York Times/Siena College national poll published Thursday found Harris has narrowed a sizable Trump lead; Trump had a two percentage point lead in a Wall Street Journal poll published on Friday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published July 23 showed a two point lead for Harris.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign event in Pittsfield, Mass., U.S., July 27, 2024. Stephanie Scarbrough/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Biden's campaign saw a narrowing path to victory with the "Sun Belt states," including Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, unlikely wins. Georgia backed Biden by 0.2 percentage points, just under 12,000 votes in 2020, and Trump by around 5 percentage points in 2016.

Andy Beshear, the twice-elected Democratic governor of deep-red Kentucky, visited Georgia over the weekend to campaign for Harris in the Republican stronghold of Forsyth County.

The Harris campaign is vetting him along with Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Govs. Josh eShapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota as possible vice presidential candidates. A decision is expected by Aug. 7.

Harris is leaning into her resume as a former district attorney and California attorney general, seeking to draw a contrast with Trump who is the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes.

Trump and 14 co-defendants are accused of racketeering and other charges for their role in attempting to overturn Biden's narrow win in Georgia.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons and Stephen Coates)

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