Kamala Harris works to fortify the ‘blue wall’ as Democrats fret over a 2016 repeat
CNN
Kamala Harris and Democrats are feverishly working to fortify the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, still haunted by Donald Trump’s victories there eight years ago that delivered him the White House and could send him back if he prevails again.
Kamala Harris and Democrats are feverishly working to fortify the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, still haunted by Donald Trump’s victories there eight years ago that delivered him the White House and could send him back if he prevails again. Few battlegrounds carry as much collective symbolism as the trio of Great Lakes states, where the vice president is locked in a bitterly close duel with the former president. Three competitive Senate races are playing out across the same terrain, with Democrats fighting to protect seats critical to their endangered majority. The November election will test whether the three states will march in lockstep – as they have all but twice over the past half-century – or whether they will choose different candidates, potentially complicating the winning path to 270 electoral votes for Harris or Trump. The blue wall states offer a window into the urgency facing Democrats in the final three weeks of the campaign as a wave of fresh anxiety settles in across the party amid concerns over whether Harris is effectively winning her relentless argument against Trump’s fitness for office. “You know what? I would always want my side to be anxious,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told CNN during a weeklong blue wall bus tour she’s leading across the three states. “It means we’re taking it seriously. It means we understand how high the stakes are.” Brian Schimming, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, said the closing chapter of the race “feels like 2016,” when Trump narrowly carried his state and the GOP delivered a strong performance down the ballot. The former president visited Wisconsin four times in eight days earlier this month and is poised to return next week.
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