Kamala Harris gains ground in key battleground States, continues her fundraising spree

PTI, Aug 12, 2024, 9:21 AM IST

Washington: Indian American Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States and the Democratic presidential nominee, has gained ground nationally and also in several key battleground States.

Harris, 59, not only continues to be on a fundraising spree, taking her campaign coffers to an unprecedented level but also has been receiving a record crowd in her rallies.

“We will win this election,” Harris told a fundraiser in San Francisco wherein she raised another USD 12 million that was attended by some 700 donors, including several Indian Americans.

In less than a month of her being on top of the ticket of the Democratic Party, after incumbent President Joe Biden decided to withdraw from the race, Harris has nearly wiped out the national lead of Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate.

According to Real Clear Politics, which monitors all the major national and State polls, Harris is now leading Trump by 0.5 percentage points in an average of all the national polls.

Harris has also surged ahead in two battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, where Biden was trailing earlier, as per Real Clear Politics. The latest poll by The New York Times said that Harris is leading in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by four percentage points.

Harris told the donors in San Francisco that she is not taking any chances. Speaking to the enthusiasm behind her campaign, Harris said she’s “never been one to really believe in the polls, whether they’re up or their down.” Still, “what we know is the stakes are so high. And we can take nothing for granted at this moment,” she said.

“It’s really been a good couple of weeks, but we have a lot of work to do,” Harris said to laughs from the crowd. “The people are ready to use their power,” she said. The energy around the country is “undeniable,” she added, arguing, “The press and our opponents like to focus on our crowd size, and yes the crowds are large.” But even better is the fact that attendees are signing up for volunteer shifts in the thousands, she noted.

A day earlier, Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz addressed more than 12,000 Nevadans – one of the largest political rallies in modern Nevada political history. The rally marked the final stop on a weeklong tour of battleground states launched after she picked Walz to be her running mate.

“Thousands of people showed up here to Thomas and Mack—and Harris explained to them why she should be the next president of the United States. A rock star’s welcome as Kamala Harris walked out to the podium,” local KVVU-LV said.

“At one of the largest political rallies in modern Nevada political history, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continued their barnstorming tour as the new Democratic presidential ticket on Saturday — one of the clearest signs yet of Democrats’ renewed hopes in the swing state,” the local Nevada Independent reported.

Starting on Tuesday, Harris and Walz blitzed the battlegrounds, drawing crowds of fired-up supporters, including more than 14,000 in Philadelphia, over 12,000 in Eau Claire, and 15,000 plus in both Detroit and Arizona.