MILWAUKEE: Vice President Kamala Harris attacked Donald Trump on Tuesday at her first campaign rally since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, while a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed her narrowly ahead of Trump, the Republican nominee.
“I promise you that I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week in this campaign,” she told a cheering crowd of several thousand at West Allis Central High School in suburban Milwaukee, Wis., a key Wisconsin battleground. Election on November 5.
“Do we want to live in a land of freedom, compassion and the rule of law, or a land of chaos, fear and hatred?” she asked.
Harris led Trump 44 percent to 42 percent among registered voters in a nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday after Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and endorsed Harris as his successor.
Previous polls conducted before Biden left found Harris and Trump tied at 44 percent a week ago, and Trump ahead of her by a percentage point at the beginning of the month.
In all three cases, the difference was within the poll's three-point margin of error, but the results could signal some limited movement in the Democratic direction — and may indicate that Harris' rise to the top of the ticket blunted any momentum Trump might have had. earned last week at the Republican National Convention, also in Milwaukee.
Harris quickly solidified her party's support after Biden, 81, abandoned his re-election campaign amid pressure from members of his own party who feared he would be able to defeat Trump or serve another four years.
She wrapped up the nomination Monday night by securing pledges from a majority of the delegates who will determine the nominee at the party's convention next month, the campaign said.
Her candidacy was backed by a majority of Democratic lawmakers, including Senate and House leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who endorsed Harris at a joint press conference on Tuesday.
An unofficial delegate poll by the Associated Press showed Harris with more than 2,500 delegates, well above the 1,976 needed for the nomination. Delegates could still change their minds, but no one else received any votes in the AP poll; 54 delegates said they were undecided.
Harris' rise is dramatically reshaping an election in which many voters were unhappy with their options.
Plagued by concerns that have included his health and persistently high prices straining the finances of American households, Biden has been losing in the polls against Trump, especially in competitive states that are likely to decide the election, including Wisconsin and the Sun Belt states of Arizona. and Nevada.
CAMPAIGN RESET
The Wisconsin event offered another opportunity for Harris, the first black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice president, to reset the Democratic campaign.
Harris was collecting campaign contributions. Her campaign said Monday it had raised $100 million as of Sunday, surpassing the $95 million the Biden campaign had in the bank at the end of June.
As a wave of high-profile Democrats lined up behind Harris, the racial justice group Black Lives Matter on Tuesday questioned the party's swift move.
She called for a statewide virtual early primary ahead of the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where the party formally nominates its candidate.
“We urge the Rules Committee to create a process that allows for public participation in the nomination process, not just nomination by party delegates,” Black Lives Matter said in a statement to Reuters.
RUST BELT PUSH
Biden said on X that he would give a speech from the Oval Office on Wednesday night explaining his decision to end his campaign. He was returning to Washington on Tuesday after spending several days in isolation at home with COVID-19. The president tested negative and no longer has symptoms, the White House physician said in a letter Tuesday.
Biden's dramatic exit followed Trump's narrow survival of a July 13 assassination attempt that raised questions about security failures at the US Secret Service. The agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned Tuesday after numerous lawmakers called for her to step down.
Trump and his allies have tried to pin Harris on some of Biden's more unpopular policies, including his administration's handling of the migrant surge at the southern border with Mexico.
“Kamala Harris' complacent record is one of utter failure and utter incompetence. Her politics are Biden's politics and vice versa,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.
Wisconsin is among a trio of Rust Belt states, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, that are critical to Democrats' chances of defeating Trump.
“There are independents and young people who didn't like their election, and Harris has a chance to win them over,” said Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a Democrat, said Harris could also help win back key black voters.
“A lot of them didn't come because they were distracted by his (Biden's) age, distracted by his looks,” he said.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison told NBC's “Today” program that the party must act quickly to get the ticket on the ballot in all 50 states and that the vice presidential pick must be made by Aug. 7.
“This process will be fair, transparent, open, but it will be fast,” Harrison said.
Potential classmates include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to people familiar with internal policy discussions. .
