We’ve just landed in Pennsylvania on Air Force 2 as Harris’ triple swing state tour continues.
Everywhere we’re going is on a knife edge. Convincing the remaining undecideds is as critical as getting her own base out to vote.
At her big rally just now in North Carolina, one of the most interesting things happened before Harris spoke. A woman called Jennifer Bell was introduced to the stage.
Bell described herself as a former “outspoken Republican voter” – triggering loud boos. She said she was a fiscal conservative who made an “honest mistake” voting for Trump in 2016.
Bell then told the crowd of Democrats she had been trying for years with her husband to have IVF fertility treatment – and portrayed Trump’s positions on reproductive rights as a threat to this for all such couples.
I got a feel for the increasingly tribal divisions in this country as the loud jeering grew at every mention of Trump and Republicans. But this was an attempt to appeal beyond the base.
Bell represents a core target group for Harris to win in the battlegrounds – suburban, often traditionally conservative women who might ordinarily vote Republican, but who flinch at Trump’s character and track record on abortion. To ensure a win, Harris needs to persuade them.
Trump fans in Wisconsin are angry over Biden’s ‘garbage’ comments
Anne Driessen came prepared.
Overhearing me talking to other Donald Trump supporters waiting in line to get into a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, she pulls out a black trash bag and waves it around.
It’s a reference to Joe Biden’s comments about Trump supporters being “garbage” – and it’s made her furious.
“We’re accustomed to this from the other side,” she says, referring to the Democrats. “He’s been called Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini – why don’t they just call him Satan?”
“They lump us all together too,” she says.
It’s an “us vs them” sentiment that I hear from several voters waiting in line to hear their candidate – they see hatred and fury coming at them from the other side.
“It’s not OK” to use words like “garbage” says a woman who will only identify herself as Ash.
“We’re not all the same, and a lot of us are politically moderate… but I feel like more of the insults are coming from that [other side],” she says.
Biden was accused of calling Trump supporters “garbage” on Tuesday evening, but the White House has said he was referring to comic Tony Hinchcliffe, who ignited controversy by calling Puerto Rico, a US territory, an “island of garbage” during a Trump rally.
Harris has distanced herself from the comments, saying she disagrees with criticising people based on who they vote for.
Wisconsin back in the political spotlight
We’re turning our attention to Wisconsin for a bit as it hosts both presidential candidates – Donald Trump will be in Green Bay before Kamala Harris holds an event of her own in Madison.
It’s no coincidence that both candidates are there – it’s a key swing state which picked the winning candidate in both 2016 and 2020 by a very narrow margin.
And it’s not the first time the state has been in the eye of the political storm this election cycle, as it hosted a raucous and jubilant Republican National Convention in July.
I was at the days-long event in Milwaukee – it was celebratory, confident and many Republicans we spoke to there felt certain of a Trump win in November.
But much has happened since that convention, which saw Hulk Hogan tear his shirt off on stage as he shouted Trump’s name and Kid Rock perform to hundreds of dancing delegates.
Most notably, of course, is that just days after the convention ended Joe Biden dropped out. Now polls suggest a neck-and-neck race, including in Wisconsin, which is why both campaigns are keen to focus efforts there at this late stage.
You must be logged in to post a comment.