Over the weekend, nearly two dozen Democrats expressed concerns in a Politico article regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’ relaxed campaign strategy, fearing it could jeopardize her chances of defeating former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. With limited time remaining on the campaign trail, Harris has chosen to spend her days mingling with California elites and participating in friendly interviews in Manhattan instead of focusing on swing states that will be crucial in determining the election’s outcome.
Despite early voting by mail and in person already underway in more than half of the country, Harris spent just three days in battleground states during the last week of September. On one occasion, while Trump delivered a speech in Wisconsin before attending the Georgia-Alabama football game, Harris attended a fundraiser in San Francisco. In addition to concerns about her schedule, Democrats argue that Harris would benefit from participating in town hall events and more sit-down interviews, allowing her to introduce herself to voters in a more authentic manner.
Politico detailed the Democrats’ fears, highlighting how the vice president has spent over a third of days since the Democratic National Convention either receiving briefings from staff or conducting internal meetings without any scheduled public events. When excluding days with known official side business, such as her meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, at the White House last month and a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, she has spent nearly half of her post-DNC days in Washington.
Former longtime Democrat Obama-era operative David Axelrod told Politico that “there’s a time at which you just have to barnstorm these battlegrounds,” expressing concern about Harris’ relatively light campaign schedule compared to Trump’s aggressive strategy of focusing on winning support in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and other swing states.
Harris is scheduled to participate in softball interviews with Democratic-allied personalities such as Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert, and the hosts of The View, according to a report by the New York Times’ Reid J. Epstein. Over the weekend, she gave an interview to the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and spoke with 60 Minutes.
Jim Messina, who managed Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, also criticized Harris for not using her time on the campaign trail efficiently. He stated that “it’s not just about packing her schedule with public events — it’s about making efficient use of every second to make sure undecided voters see her being able to lead, meeting voters where they are across media, and fundraising strategically.