Harris focuses on Nikki Haley's primary voters in closing weeks of campaign

Harris focuses on Nikki Haley’s primary voters in closing weeks of campaign

In the final stretch before the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris embarked on a three-state tour across battleground states to court swing voters — with a particular focus on those who backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year. 

Harris’ pitch was remarkably similar to the foreign policy warning about Trump that Haley delivered when she was a presidential candidate.

“If Donald Trump were president, Vladimir Putin will be sitting in Kyiv — and understand what that would mean for America and our standing around the world,” Harris told Oakland County voters in Michigan on Monday. Claiming Trump would surrender Ukraine to Russia, Harris added, “that is signaling to the President of Russia he can get away with what he has done. Look at the map. Poland would be next.”  

campaigned with her this week. Harris also hit the trail with other Republicans and former Trump aides earlier this month.

In 2020, Joe Biden won Michigan by less than 155,000 votes. In her race against Trump during the primaries, Haley won nearly 55,000 votes in Oakland County, Michigan. 

Haley dropped out of the presidential race before the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin primaries, but nonetheless, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Haley received 9,000 votes, about 24% of the GOP primary votes in the county. President Biden’s margin in Pennsylvania was just 80,000 votes in 2020, and it was even smaller in Wisconsin — a mere 20,000 votes. Haley received 9,000 votes in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.

While Harris tries to woo former Haley supporters, Haley herself is ready to campaign for Trump, despite her warnings about him months ago. 

According to a source familiar with the planning, Haley’s team has given the Trump campaign availability dates for a potential joint campaign event, and the two teams are working to schedule an appearance before Election Day. 

Last month, Haley told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” she was happy to be helpful to the campaign if needed.

“To me, the stark contrast between a Trump and Harris administration are what led me to say, yes, I need to, you know, I’m going to be voting with Trump, and I’m going to speak at the convention,” she said. “Do I agree with his style? Do I agree with his approach? Do I agree with his communications? No. When I look at the policies and how they affect my family and how I think they’re going to affect the country, that’s where I go back and I look at the differences.” 

In an interview with “Fox and Friends” last week, Trump said “I’ll do what I have to do” when asked if he’d be requesting Haley’s help, but he reiterated that he “beat her badly.”

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Source: cbsnews.com