Harris campaign targets red, rural counties, trying to narrow Trump’s margins

CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is targeting red and rural counties in the final push before Election Day, campaign aides say, with her appearance in Ripon, Wisconsin, on Thursday just part of a strategy to compete everywhere and narrow Donald Trump’s lead there.

“Of course we have to get people in the Democratic base areas to vote, but we also have to convince a lot of people,” Dan Kanninen, director of the Harris campaign, told CNN. “Narrowing the margins where we can, in counties where Trump might have won 70-30, but if we can lose them 60-40 or 65-35, that makes a big difference versus dozens of counties in one State.”

Part of the campaign’s local organizing includes a stronger presence in districts that may have fewer Democrats and more dissatisfied Republican voters.

In the coming days, the campaign plans to host events aimed at targeting voters disillusioned with Trump, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Harris campaign officials have often touted Republican endorsements and endorsements, including this week when the vice president appeared with former Rep. Liz Cheney, marking her first joint appearance since the Wyoming Republican announced she would vote for Harris .

But the place where they appeared together perhaps carried more weight – Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party. Fond du Lac County, which includes Ripon, voted 62-36% for Trump in 2020.

Harris campaign officials expect her campaign infrastructure — including multiple field offices as well as campaign stops by Vice President and Vice President Tim Walz, among others — can help bridge the gap between her and Trump, particularly in battleground states.

“We have 16 offices in counties where Trump won by double digits because we don’t take any place for granted,” Brendan McPhillips, Harris campaign adviser for Pennsylvania, told CNN.

“If you win five votes, five additional votes in a district where Trump won by double digits, that’s the same as the five votes you win in Philadelphia,” he added. “But you have to go everywhere to reach them, and it’s important to people that you show yourself to your community and engage in an honest conversation and a back-and-forth.”

That includes areas like Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley polled 20% in the Republican primary even though she is no longer in the 2024 race, and where strategists argue the Harris campaign is potentially disinterested Republican voters could win with Trump.

Harris may not be able to appeal to all Haley voters, but exploiting the doubts that may exist about Trump in some of those districts and getting even a portion of those votes could be crucial, according to Sam Chen, a Republican be a margin-reducing strategist.

“It’s a smart move, but it’s a risky move if they don’t like you and it inadvertently drives them to Trump,” Chen said. “This is where you need to know your message.”

Walz, who previously campaigned in Lancaster County, began a bus tour of central Pennsylvania after this week’s vice presidential debate. Similarly, Harris returned last month to two counties — Cambria and Luzerne — that Trump won by double digits in 2020.

Democratic strategists have also cited Walz’s upbringing in rural America, his military background and his time as a football coach as particularly relatable to rural parts of the country.

The campaign is also running ads targeting rural voters in battleground states, including one featuring lifelong Republicans who said they used to vote for Trump but then chose Harris, and one others with a farmer in Wisconsin talking about health care.

Harris advisers point to previous Democratic campaigns as evidence that the strategy is working, including Sen. John Fetterman’s 2022 election in Pennsylvania and Sen. Raphael Warnock’s runoff election in Georgia.

In late August, Harris toured southeast Georgia, a region that typically leans Republican but where Warnock had success.

Harris’ deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks, who ran Warnock’s campaign, argued at the time that Harris, like Warnock, had an advantage in appealing to broader groups of voters, including those in rural areas who face Trump as their opponent in November and expected higher voter turnout in a presidential election year.