Kamala Harris will announce her running mate on Monday as she prepares to tour US battleground states aimed at turning enthusiasm for her presidential bid into lasting support that could carry her to victory.
All roads to the White House pass through some crucial states, and Harris will begin a five-day trip on Tuesday to the largest state – Pennsylvania – as she prepares for her Nov. 5 showdown with Republican Donald Trump.
“At this moment, we have to choose between two visions for our country: one focused on the future, the other on the past… This campaign is about people coming together, inspired by patriotism, and fighting to be the best we can be,” he wrote on X.
After winning enough delegate votes to secure the Democratic nomination, the nation’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president will head to the national convention in Chicago in two weeks with full control of her party.
In a campaign barely two weeks old, the 59-year-old former prosecutor has shattered fundraising records, attracted massive crowds and dominated social media, erasing the polling lead that Trump built before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Next on the agenda is the vice presidential pick, which is expected to be announced any time before the mystery candidate holds his rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city, on Tuesday evening.
The Keystone State is the most valuable real estate in the closely contested battleground states that will decide the Electoral College system.
It’s part of the “blue wall” that carried Biden to the White House in 2020, along with Michigan and Wisconsin — two states where Harris is set to wow crowds on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania is governed by 51-year-old Democrat Josh Shapiro, who is a frontrunner in the so-called “veepstakes” list that includes governors Tim Walz and Andy Beshear from other states, as well as Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
‘Freedom’
This weekend, Harris will visit the more racially diverse Sun Belt and Southern states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina as she seeks to turn out Black and Hispanic votes that have been shifting away from Democrats.
Just a month ago, Trump was in full control, having taken a significant lead in swing state polling after Biden’s dismal debate performance, with the Republican tycoon leaving the country unsure about his own vice presidential pick.
Trump’s White House bid collapsed on July 21 when the 81-year-old Biden, facing growing concerns over his age and lagging poll numbers, dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.
Energetic and two decades younger than the 78-year-old Trump, the vice president is off to a fast start, raising $310 million in July, according to his campaign — more than double Trump’s.
While Biden made high-minded appeals for a return to civility and the preservation of democracy, Harris has focused on the future, and made voters’ hard-fought “freedom” a touchstone of her campaign.
He and his allies have been more aggressive than the Biden camp — mocking Trump for reneging on his commitment to a Sept. 10 debate and portraying the convicted felon as an elderly curmudgeon and a “weirdo.”
Though she has repudiated some of the left-wing stances she took during her ill-fated 2020 primary campaign, Harris has not given any extensive interviews since entering the race, and rally-goers will be looking for more information about her plans for the country.
Meanwhile, Trump and his Republicans are struggling to keep up with their new opponent or ramp up their attacks against Harris — first sending out messages that she is dangerously liberal on immigration and crime, and then suggesting that she is lying about being black.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
