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, with a narrow lead over Republican candidate Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
“I promise you that every day of the week in this campaign, I will proudly compete with my record against his,” she told a cheering crowd of several thousand people at West Allis Central High School in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a crucial swing state in the Nov. 5 election.
“Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law or in a country of chaos, fear and hatred?” she asked.
In the national Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday, Harris led Trump by 44 percent among registered voters, up from 42 percent after Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and endorsed Harris as his successor.
Earlier polls before Biden's departure showed Harris and Trump tied at 44 percent a week ago, and Trump even one percentage point ahead of her earlier this month.
In all three cases, the margin was within the poll's 3 percent margin of error, but the results may indicate some movement toward the Democrats – and may suggest that Harris' rise to the top of the ticket has dulled any momentum Trump may have gained from last week's Republican National Convention, also held in Milwaukee.
Harris was able to quickly consolidate her party's support after Biden, 81, abandoned his re-election campaign under pressure from party members who worried about whether he could beat Trump or serve another four-year term.
She secured the nomination on Monday evening by receiving the endorsements of a majority of the delegates who will choose their candidate at the party convention next month, the campaign said.
Most Democratic lawmakers have thrown their support behind her candidacy, including Senate and House party leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who supported Harris at a joint press conference on Tuesday.
An unofficial Associated Press poll of delegates showed Harris with more than 2,500 delegates, far more than the 1,976 needed for the nomination. The delegates could still change their minds, but no one else received votes in the AP poll; 54 delegates said they were undecided.
Harris' rise dramatically changes an election in which many voters were dissatisfied with their options.
Amid concerns about his health and persistently high prices straining American household finances, Biden has lost ground to Trump in the polls, particularly in the battleground states likely to decide the election, including Wisconsin and the Sun Belt states of Arizona and Nevada.
RESET CAMPAIGN
The event in Wisconsin offered Harris, the first black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, another opportunity to refocus the Democratic campaign.
Harris has been raking in campaign donations. Her campaign said Monday that she had raised $100 million since Sunday, more than the $95 million the Biden campaign had in the bank at the end of June.
While a wave of senior Democrats rallied behind Harris, racial justice organization Black Lives Matter on Tuesday criticized the party's quick move.
She called for a virtual national primary ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago from August 19 to 22 and at which the party will officially nominate its candidate.
“We call on the Rules Committee to create a process that allows for public participation in the nomination process, rather than just nomination by party delegates,” Black Lives Matter said in a statement to Reuters.
Press rust belt
Biden said on X that he would give a speech from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening explaining his decision to end his campaign. He returned to Washington on Tuesday after spending several days in home isolation because of COVID-19. The president tested negative and no longer has any symptoms, the White House doctor said in a letter on Tuesday.
Biden's dramatic departure followed Trump's narrow survival of an assassination attempt on July 13, which raised questions about security failings at the U.S. Secret Service. The agency's head, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned on Tuesday after numerous lawmakers called for her resignation.
Trump and his allies have tried to tie Harris to some of Biden's more unpopular policies, including his administration's handling of the influx of migrants at the southern border with Mexico.
“Kamala Harris's dismal record is one of utter failure and utter incompetence. Her policies are Biden's policies and vice versa,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.
Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, is one of a trio of Rust Belt states that are crucial to the Democrats' chances of defeating Trump.
“There are independents and young people who have not liked her decisions, and Harris has a chance to win them over,” said Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising.
Milwaukee County Democratic Executive David Crowley said Harris could also help win back key black voters.
“Many of them didn't come because they were distracted by his (Biden's) age, by his looks,” he said.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said in an interview on NBC's “Today” show that the party must act quickly to get its candidates on the ballot in all 50 states and that the vice presidential choice must be decided by August 7.
“This process will be fair, transparent and open, but it will be quick,” Harrison said.
Potential vice presidential contenders include Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, according to people familiar with the internal policy discussions.
