Kamala Harris has launched a week-long media blitz, rushing from TV studios and late-night shows to podcast interviews in a bid to gain an edge against Donald Trump in key battleground states in the closely-contested U.S. presidential election. embarked on.
The vice president made the decision to confront a slew of largely favorable media outlets as the campaign entered its final 30 days. More than 1.4 million Americans have already cast early voting votes in 30 states.
The Democratic candidate’s whirlwind media tour is carefully planned to maximize reach and minimize risk. Harris has appeared on the CBS news show “60 Minutes” and the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy.”
On Tuesday, she will be in the media capital New York for appearances on ABC News’ daytime behemoths “The View” and “The Howard Stern Show,” before taping with late-night host Stephen Colbert.
The first in a series of comments from Harris were made by 60 Minutes Sunday before the full broadcast on Monday. Harris will appear alone after Trump declined to be interviewed for the election feature that has been a staple of American election coverage for more than half a century.
In a short video released by 60 Minutes, Harris argues that the Biden-Harris administration will have some influence over the actions of Israel’s hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appears not to listen to Washington. I was asked whether or not. Asked whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had any “true close allies” in the United States, she said: And the answer to that question is yes. ”
Since Harris’ meteoric rise as the Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden left office, her relative avoidance of press and television interviews has become a point of contention in the campaign. Republican leaders and Fox News pundits regularly accuse her of being media-shy.
This week’s blitz aims to counter that impression while reaching a large audience focused on the core demographic of Harris’ likely victory in November. Call Her Daddy is the most listened to podcast among women on Spotify, and The View ranks #1 among daytime talk shows with an average audience of 2.5 million viewers, again with a strong focus on women. It is placed.
Meanwhile, Colbert’s show on CBS is the most-watched late-night talk show, attracting large numbers of young viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, another key demographic on Harris’ target list.
Harris’ running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is also waging his own media battle that began Sunday, entering less comfortable territory on Fox News Sunday. He was asked about the pro-abortion rights law he signed into law in his state and asked to reveal the occasions when he misrepresented his record.
These include comments that he carried weapons during the war when he didn’t, and that he described the treatment he and his wife underwent to have a child when it was actually a different type of infertility treatment. It included a comment that it was classified as in vitro fertilization even though it was.
During last week’s vice presidential debate, Walz acknowledged his lapses and called himself a “knucklehead.”
“To be honest with you, I don’t think the American public cares whether I did IVF or IVF,” Walz told Fox News Sunday. “What they understand is that Donald “I think Mr. Trump will resist these things. I speak passionately…When I say things wrong, and when I make mistakes, I admit.”
As the contest enters its final month, Harris is leading Trump nationally by 3 percentage points, according to the Guardian’s latest poll tracker. In the more important tests in the seven battleground states that will decide the outcome, Harris is leading in five of them, but the margins remain so narrow that it is difficult to judge.
Both candidates and their running mate are accelerating their mad dash through seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Harris and Walz will be in Arizona this week, where early voting begins Wednesday.
The Democratic ticket will get another boost Thursday when former president and campaigning superstar Barack Obama begins campaigning in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania. Campaign aides said Harris will start in Pittsburgh and then travel around the country on her behalf.
President Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin, on Sunday afternoon, a day after making a sharp return to the fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was nearly assassinated on July 13. President Trump and his younger son Eric used this opportunity to spread baseless claims that Democrats were behind an attempt on his life.
“They tried to kill him because the Democrats can’t do anything right,” Eric Trump said. Billionaire Elon Musk also appeared on stage.
On Sunday, Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson asked on ABC News’ This Week show whether such comments were responsible amid growing concerns about political violence ahead of the Nov. 5 election. It was done. Prime Minister Johnson dodged the question by saying he had not heard the entire speech.
Notably, the speaker also declined to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 election, given his continued lies that he was the actual winner. “This has always been a game, a nasty game, played by the media with leading Republicans, and I’m not going to get involved in that,” Johnson said.
Melania Trump, the former president’s wife, sat down for an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. Does she trust the leaders of the FBI, CIA and other federal agencies who “seem to be against President Trump and yourself from day one” considering her husband was almost shot and killed in Butler? I was asked if I could.
Melania Trump said: “It’s hard to say who I really trust. I want to, but there’s always a question mark.”
Melania Trump, who is promoting her book “Melania,” also spoke about her support for abortion rights, which she makes clear in the book. She said her husband always knew of her beliefs.
“He understood my position and beliefs from the day we met, and I believe in personal freedom. I want to be able to decide what to do with my body. I don’t want the government to interfere in my personal business. I don’t want to,” she said.