Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will launch a bus tour of southern Georgia next week. It will be their first joint campaign event in the state and their first public appearance since the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, NBC News reported.
The candidates are hoping to use the momentum from the convention to gain traction in the final stages of the general election. Next week, Harris and Walz will embark on a bus tour of southern Georgia, record their first joint interview and attend several fundraisers scheduled for New York, California, Florida and Georgia, according to two sources familiar with the plans.
Following the tour, Harris will headline a solo rally in Savannah, Georgia. This will be Harris’ seventh trip to the state this year and her second since launching her presidential campaign last month. Harris and Walz had originally planned to visit Savannah as part of their swing-state tour earlier this month. However, they had to postpone the event because of Tropical Storm Debbie.
Harris and Walz’s visit came as Republicans ramp up their campaigning in Georgia. Vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio held a campaign rally in Valdosta on Thursday, and former President Donald Trump recently held a rally in Atlanta. Republicans are working to build on polls that suggest they could attract larger numbers of black and Latino voters this election cycle.
The exact locations of Harris and Walz’s visit have not yet been announced, but southern Georgia is home to some of the state’s largest black populations, including Dougherty County, which has the second-highest percentage of black residents in Georgia. The campaign has also opened field offices in Albany and Valdosta, two cities with significant black communities.
Earlier this month, Harris held her second presidential campaign rally in Atlanta, which featured a performance by Megan Thee Stallion. The campaign reported that the event drew over 10,000 attendees.
Previously, a poll had shown that former President Trump and Vice President Harris were tied among voters in Georgia, while Harris strengthened her position in the election campaign and brought the “Peach State” back into play.
According to an AARP poll released earlier this month, Trump and Harris each received 48 percent support in a head-to-head comparison. When third-party candidates are included, Trump is two percentage points ahead, 46 percent to 44 percent, while independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has 7 percent support and 3 percent are undecided.
The AARP poll also found that voters are highly motivated, with 79 percent of respondents saying they were very motivated to vote and rating themselves a 10 out of 10. This was also true for 88 percent of voters over 50 and 70 percent of voters under 50.
Motivation was lowest among younger voters: in the 18- to 34-year-old age group, 60 percent said they were very motivated.
According to the poll, Republicans have ten percentage points more motivated voters than Democrats.
