Kamala Harris embarked on a bus tour of the potentially election-deciding state of Pennsylvania on Sunday to keep up momentum ahead of her star performance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The US vice president has injected new energy into the party after a stunning month in which he replaced President Joe Biden as the top candidate and erased Republican rival Donald Trump’s lead in the polls.
Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, arrived at the airport in Pittsburgh with their spouses and greeted supporters, then boarded a bus bearing their names and headed to a number of small towns to court blue-collar voters.
Later, while visiting a campaign phone bank in Rochester, Pennsylvania, the crowd chanted “We’re not going back” — a line Harris used to position herself as a leader of a new generation as America’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president.
His rapid advance has unsettled Trump, the 78-year-old former president and convicted felon, who has resorted to his favorite tactic of personal insults as he struggles to rebuild a campaign that focused largely on the age of the 81-year-old Biden.
A day earlier, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump attacked Harris, calling her “crazy” and claiming he was “a lot better looking” than the 59-year-old Harris.
Both campaigns are focusing primarily on Pennsylvania, a rust belt state in the US, which Trump won in 2016 and Biden took in 2020.
‘We are ready’
Later, Harris will travel to Chicago, where Democrats are daring to rekindle hope even though Biden’s poor debate performance just a few weeks ago had many thinking the election was already lost.
A Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll published Sunday shows Harris has a slight lead over Trump among registered voters nationwide, up from a month ago when Trump and Biden were neck and neck.
Security has been beefed up for the four-day Chicago conference, with thousands of protesters expected to rally each day against the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The protests are expected to begin on Sunday and continue until Thursday, with particularly large numbers gathering on Monday and Wednesday.
“We are prepared,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told ABC on Sunday, adding that his police force was working with the Secret Service and other agencies to ensure a “safe, peaceful and vibrant” convention.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said planned protests would be allowed provided they remain peaceful.
“If there is a rioter, he will be arrested and held accountable,” he told CNN.
Biden will pass the torch
The Democratic Party’s victory in Chicago will give Harris a chance to tell her story to the American public, which is still trying to get to know the candidate.
Harris will also join Biden on stage Monday when he addresses the convention — a speech Biden was expected to deliver just weeks ago as the Democratic nominee.
The aging president is reportedly still upset that the Democrats shut him out, saying he believes he could still have defeated Trump.
But Biden is expected to focus on carrying the torch and addressing the threat Trump poses to democracy as he seeks to cement his legacy by helping Harris win.
The Harris campaign said Biden would “make the case for Vice President Kamala Harris” and “highlight the stakes of the election for all Americans.”
First Lady Jill Biden will also address the convention on Monday.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former First Lady Michelle Obama will also be in attendance during the week.
Also on stage Wednesday will be Harris’ vice presidential running mate Walz, the Minnesota governor who built a reputation for himself by accusing Trump and his running mate Vance of being “weird.”
While Democrats convene in Chicago, Trump will tour the country, holding rallies in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona during the week.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
