“New Hampshire, look, we’ve got 62 days to go,” Harris said. “This race is gonna be tight until the very end. So please, let’s not pay too much attention to the polls, because we are running as the underdog.”
Those remarksaside, the most recent New Hampshirepolls have looked good for Harris — a fact that has not been lost on Republicans here, and surely not on Harris’s team, either. Whether the sometimes-swing-state’s four electoral votes are still truly in play has become a matter of heightened dispute in recent days.
Donald Trump won his first political victory in 2016 in the New Hampshire primary, and often reminds voters here of his work to protect its first-in-the-nation primary status. But his campaign has made minimal formal investments in New Hampshire recently; the former president has not campaigned in the state since he won its primary in January, and his top surrogates have not visited in months.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke during a campaign event at Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, N.H., on Wednesday. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Republicans who were bullish about winning the state when President Biden was on the ballot have become more circumspect in the weeks since Harris brought fresh momentum to the Democrats. The Globe reported this week that a top Trump volunteer in Massachusetts wrote in an internal memo that the campaign had decided New Hampshire was no longer winnable, and supporters in New England should redirect their efforts to Pennsylvania.
In the wake of that story, Trumphas disputed the idea his campaign won’t compete in New Hampshire.
In a radio appearance with “The Pulse of New Hampshire” radio show Wednesday morning, Trump committed to campaigning here.
“It’s a very important place in terms of winning this election,” Trump said, just hours before Harris touched down. “It could come down to New Hampshire. I’ll be there.”
Meanwhile, at Harris’s event in North Hampton, supporters clad in campaign gear and wielding Harrissigns said they are confident — but not overconfident — their state will go for the Democrats, as it has in every presidential election for the last 20 years. Under a hot afternoon sun, supporters from all over New England cooled off with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and shaved ice as they competed for rare pockets of shade.
“I think we have to take it really seriously,” Eileen McCue, 70, said of New Hampshire in the general election. “It’s all in play.”
McCue, who is retired and lives in Rye, said excitement in her state has increased now that Harris leads the ticket; if it had been Biden speaking at the brewery on Wednesday, she said, she isn’t sure she would have bothered to go. But McCue said she has learned from observing politics that things can change at the last minute.
Even though the state looks strong for Harris now, “I don’t think we can let our guard down for a second,” McCue said.
Supporters danced and waited for Kamala Harris before a campaign event North Hampton, N.H.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Recent high school graduate Jane Podrasky, 18, said she would have cast her first vote in a presidential election for Biden this fall but is happier to do sofor Harris. Podrasky, who is queer and lives in Portsmouth, said that Republican attacks on the LGBTQ+ community are frightening, and that Harris’s candidacy gives her hope that New Hampshire will be a welcoming place to live.
“I want somebody we can look forward to and look up to,” Podrasky said.
Harris used the event to focus on her economic message with the new tax proposal aimed at small businesses. It would allow new companies to deduct as much as $50,000 in startup expenses, with the goal of launching 25 million new small businesses in her first term.
It’s part of a modest package of new policy announcements Harris has made since she secured the nomination. She has faced criticism for giving few media interviews and offering minimal details on what she would do as president, including how her agenda would differ from Biden.
The little that Harris has describedsignals a clear focus on the economy, which polls consistently show is a driving issue for voters. Her new plan also represented outreach to the political center,as a proposal for small business tax breaks hardly make Harris sound like the left-wing bogeyman her GOP opponents often describe.
Harris promised to “cut red tape,” lower taxes for those launching small businesses, and make it easier for owners to file their taxes — talking points that could just as plausibly be voiced by a Republican. She also slammed Trump for policy proposals she said would increase the national debt. And, in a point that may resonate more with the left, Harris also declared that “billionaires and corporations must pay their fair share in taxes.”
Harris played into the light tone and youthful themes that have been a powerful part of her rise, particularly online. One of the supporters introducing Harris described her as a “Femininomenon,” a nod to the popular Chappell Roan song that earned cheers from the crowd.
“By the way, I love Gen Z, I just love Gen Z,” Harris said to raucous cheering as she reflected on a college tour she did as vice president.
In her speech Wednesday, Harris also addressed the school shooting in Georgia, calling it “a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies.”
“It is just outrageous that every day in our country in the United States of America that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” Harris said in a somber moment. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Supporters waved signs at the Harris campaign event at Throwback Brewery on Wednesday.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Emma Platoff can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @emmaplatoff.
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Publish date : 2024-09-04 11:26:00
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