(Bloomberg) -- Kamala Harris is heading to Arizona and Nevada this week as her campaign faces mounting pressure to shore up support among Latino voters and union members — two crucial demographics that have helped deliver narrow Democratic wins in the key swing states.
During her West Coast tour, the vice president aims to tackle two of her most persistent vulnerabilities that Donald Trump’s campaign capitalizes on — immigration and the economy. Harris will visit the US-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday before attending fundraisers in donor-rich San Francisco and Los Angeles over the weekend. She caps off her trip with a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday.
In Arizona, Harris will call for tougher border security measures and emphasize a bipartisan immigration bill that was previously blocked by Republicans at Trump’s urging, according to a senior campaign official who requested anonymity to speak about her remarks. In tandem with the visit, her campaign on Friday started blanketing Arizona, Nevada and other battleground states with new ads touting her promise to hire thousands of new border agents.
Even though the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of likely voters in Arizona and Nevada showed Harris widening her lead over Trump, the Republican held an advantage over whom they trust more to handle immigration. Trump’s margin was 11 points in Arizona and 9 in Nevada on that question.
Trump’s hard-line immigration stance, including his pledge to complete a wall on the US-Mexico border and carry out mass deportations, has found traction among some moderate and Latino voters in the southwest. The former president’s allies have also seized on the recent decision by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters not to endorse in the presidential race to claim that rank-and-file union members support him over the Democrat.
To beat Trump in Arizona — which President Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020 by fewer than 11,000 votes — Harris will need to offer a clear border policy, said Chuck Coughlin, a Phoenix-based political strategist.
“Arizona voters are the most sophisticated immigration voters in the country,” said Coughlin, who previously worked for the late Republican Senator John McCain. “They know real policy when they see it, because we’ve been dealing with this for more than a decade.”
Meanwhile, in Nevada, where unions representing 60,000 bartenders and culinary workers are pledging to help Democrats, Republicans say they’re winning over rank-and-file members thanks to concerns over inflation.
“When you get out west, the union members are voting for Trump,” said Michael McDonald, chair of Nevada’s Republican Party.
The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult swing-state poll released Thursday showed Harris now leading among likely voters by 7 percentage points in Nevada and 3 points in Arizona — both within the margin of error. The close race is evident in these states, as ads flood the airwaves and billboards target people weighing concerns over inflation, border security and abortion rights.
“You feel the election in the air. The signs are at every intersection,” said Bill Gates, a Republican member of Arizona’s Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. “It’s just one commercial after the other.”
Reproductive rights, in particular, is an issue that Democrats hope will mobilize voters in Arizona and Nevada. Both states have ballot measures to enshrine abortion access in their constitutions.
Harris’ campaign is also attempting to win over disillusioned Arizona Republicans who are uneasy about Trump by deploying people in their party such as Mesa Mayor John Giles. He’s urging moderates to support the vice president despite differing on issues like abortion.
“I have zero problem urging Republicans and pro-life Republicans to vote for the vice president,” said Mesa, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. “You’re free to vote your conscience and not support somebody that has integrity and character issues.”
For the GOP, its voter outreach strategy centers around Trump’s core messaging on immigration and the economy. “The Democrats focus on abortion,” said Halee Dobbins, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee in Arizona. “We see the economy and the cost of living as way more important issues that voters care about.”
--With assistance from Gregory Korte and Julie Fine.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
