The so-called “Week of Action” will include 40 events across the Sunshine State will culminate with four watch parties when Harris delivers her nomination acceptance speech on Aug. 22.
Democratic Party supporters at call center for Kamala Harris
Dozens of Kamala Harris supporters turned out to run a call center in Delray Beach
Vice President Kamala Harris’ Florida campaign said Friday it will seek to extend almost a month’s worth of momentum into next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a series of events across the Sunshine State.
The so-called “Week of Action” will include 40 events across Florida and will culminate with four watch parties when Harris delivers her nomination acceptance speech on Aug. 22.
There will be two dozen voter outreach opportunities, from phone banks to university canvassing to so-called “cat cafe’s,” gatherings aimed as a dig at GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s disparaging comments about the political engagement and voting by women who do not have children.
They will also include 10 community events such as roundtable talks with LGBTQ, Hispanic, Caribbean, and African-American voter groups and streetside “honk & waves” in South Florida. And a return to The Villages with a day’s worth of “training, organizing, volunteer sign-ups” in the conservative older voter bastion where a golf cart parade in support of the Harris-Walz ticket weeks ago went viral on social media.
Polls point to a tighter race in Florida between Trump and Harris
The line-up of events comes as polls suggest the contest between Harris and former President Donald Trump has tightened in Florida, which has been a MAGA bellwether for the past five years since Trump officially relocated his residency to the state in 2019 and throughout Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tenure in Tallahassee.
This week, a poll by USA TODAY and Suffolk University put Harris at five points behind Trump in the state. But a Florida Atlantic University-Mainstreet Research voter survey placed Trump just three points ahead of his Democratic rival among likely voters, and just two points when alternative candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was added to the choices. Another poll, by the conservative lobbying group Associated Industries of Florida, had Trump leading Harris by much wider gap, 8 points.
“Increasingly, since Harris got in the race, this thing has tightened quite a bit,” said FAU pollster Kevin Wagner, who noted that a poll they conducted last month showed Harris trailing Trump in Florida by anywhere from 6 to 8 points. “It suggests that, at least for now, this has become a very competitive race, even in a state like Florida that has a Republican lean.”
Wagner, an associate dean at FAU, added that looking “underneath the numbers” reveals that Harris has managed to bring back traditional Democratic blocs and is now polling more than 90% support among her party rank-and-file.
Election 2024: FAU-Mainstreet poll shows Trump-Harris contest ‘tightening,’ even in pretty red Florida
Surge in Harris-Walz volunteers fueled by women, campaign says
Officials for the Harris-Walz campaign in Florida have been touting a surge of grassroots enthusiasm for the ticket in Florida. Since Harris entered the race on July 21, the same date President Joe Biden ended his bid for the nomination, the campaign touts more than 22,000 Floridians have signed up to volunteer.
On Aug. 11, nearly 600 of them attended a training session in the Tallahassee area. Two weeks before, 100 attended a phone bank effort in Delray Beach.
The wave of new volunteers, they said, has been “predominantly driven by women, who make up a striking two-thirds of our volunteer base.”
“These women are stepping up in unprecedented numbers to make phone calls, knock on doors, organize events, and galvanize their communities in support of the campaign,” the campaign said in a statement.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66bf43e21ea64ef3bac927500e354b56&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Felections%2F2024%2F08%2F16%2Fharris-campaign-schedules-40-events-in-florida-to-harness-dnc-energy%2F74824421007%2F&c=17188306222787413223&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-08-16 00:57:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
