Harris Boosts Democratic Hopes of Winning Sun Belt States, Campaign Aide Says

(Bloomberg) — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ entry into the race is bolstering the party’s hopes of capturing Sun Belt battleground states thanks to renewed enthusiasm among some critical electoral blocs, according to one of her top campaign officials.
“We’re certainly stronger at the Sun Belt,” Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground states director, said Thursday at a Bloomberg News roundtable on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “Harris does really well with Black voters, with Latino voters, with younger voters, and I think that strength is showing up in some of the on-the-ground metrics.”
Kanninen, a veteran Democratic strategist, said the party was poised to capitalize by ramping up operations across the country that he said already outpaced Republican rival Donald Trump.
“We have 1,600 staff across those battleground states, more than 300 offices across those states,” he said. “It will grow still more until we get to the fall.”
“We expect a close race, and the imperative for me was to build a campaign at scale that could win a close race in all those places,” Kanninen added. 
Kanninen spoke ahead of Harris’ keynote address Thursday where she will formally accept her party’s nomination, and as the campaign shifts to a new phase which will test the vice president’s ability to maintain her initial momentum.
GOP Outreach
Harris’ entry into the race spurred a wave of enthusiasm among the Democratic base. But expanding that appeal to draw in blue-collar voters who have drifted to Trump as well as independents and undecideds will be critical to her hopes of succeeding President Joe Biden. 
Trump is also sharpening his attacks — and personal insults — against Harris as the former president’s campaign seeks to cast her and her policies as too liberal for Americans.
Harris’ campaign is seeking to retain the “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that Biden won in 2020 and also perform well across Sun Belt states Arizona, Georgia and Nevada that cushioned his Electoral College victory. 
Kanninen said the campaign still has potential to win over disaffected Republicans, noting “we’ve still seen opportunities to push. I don’t think we’ve hit a ceiling yet on getting those voters to come over.”
“When its this tight, everything matters,” he added. “We know we have to turnout our voters, obviously, and we know that we have to persuade and expand the electorate.”
The battleground director cited voters who were drawn to Trump’s last major primary challenger, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. 
“There are suburban independent men, there are certain women Republicans, sometimes who have been turned off by Donald Trump’s party. We can pull them over in this strong way,” Kanninen said. “We have to cut margins a little bit in rural America and not assume that we can’t talk to those voters.”
‘Very Bullish’
Polls show Harris has shaken up the electoral map, putting into play states Democrats had largely written off when Biden was their nominee.
“We are very bullish on North Carolina,” Kanninen said, a state Democrats have only won once since 1980.
Trump’s campaign has cast Harris’ surge as a sugar high that is leveling off.  “We believe, internally, based on the data, that the plateau’s been reached,” Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said Monday. 
The Republican nominee has stepped up his campaigning this week, visiting swing states in a bid to counterprogram the Democratic convention, with events focused on the economy, immigration and crime — issues seen as potential vulnerabilities for Harris. 
–With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron and Stephanie Lai.
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