Trump, Harris campaigns face divergent paths post-debate

Jennifer Epstein, Nancy Cook, Skylar Woodhouse | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Vice President Kamala Harris is looking to harness the momentum from her strong showing in Tuesday’s presidential debate with a tour of key swing states, even as her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, is about to embark on a trip to the West, where he’ll be pressed to show donors and supporters a plan to regain his footing.

For the Democratic nominee, visits to North Carolina and Pennsylvania — two crucial battlegrounds in November’s election — offer the opportunity to solidify support among swing voters considering her candidacy anew after her promising debate performance.

With early voting starting soon, Democrats are also eager to bank support, particularly as enthusiasm among the party faithful has swollen in the hours since the candidates squared off in Philadelphia.

Trump plans a fevered stretch of campaigning, including a press conference, rallies and high-dollar fundraisers across Arizona, Nevada, and California that have taken on new significance after his rocky debate performance that even some of his top supporters acknowledge could have gone better.

While the former president’s allies insist the debate is unlikely to be a make-or-break moment like his exchange with President Joe Biden in June, which effectively ended the president’s half-century political career, the pressure is back on Republicans to blunt Harris’s momentum.

Trump’s frustration in the aftermath of the debate has largely focused on ABC News moderators who fact-checked his claims in real time, leading allies to believe he’s not likely to shake up his campaign staff. But the Republican nominee could use his western swing to offer a new policy proposal to reshape the narrative, as he’s done in the past.

Harris’ team says it is shifting into a new, more assertive phase on the campaign trail. After limiting her interactions with the press — and facing criticism from Republicans and members of the media — she will begin sitting for more interviews, including some with battleground state outlets in the coming days and with the National Association of Black Journalists next week.

Former President Barack Obama will also appear at a major fundraiser for Harris in Los Angeles on Sept. 20, according to a person familiar with the schedule, which will help boost her campaign coffers and fund get-out-the-vote efforts.

The debate has the air of a missed opportunity for Trump, who has an Electoral College advantage and is favored to prevail if the race remains tight.

Polls have found Trump and Harris generally running neck-and-neck in surveys of the seven swing states expected to decide the election. A New York Times/Siena College poll on Sunday showed Trump led Harris nationally by a point.

“Our team could not be prouder of President Trump for delivering a masterful debate performance in a 3-on-1 fight against lying Kamala Harris,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who accused the moderators of bias.

Trump spinHarris, by contrast, is riding high after the debate – and Taylor Swift’s endorsement – seeking to translate that boost into votes. Her debate performance saw her odds of winning the election increase in betting markets and 63% of registered voters say she did a better job than Trump in a CNN flash poll.

Though he repeatedly declared victory in his debate spin, Trump appeared to acknowledge that the night didn’t go particularly well. He visited the post-debate spin room — something candidates typically don’t do — and called into “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning to vent his frustrations.

Trump in the Fox News interview sounded agitated, frequently cutting off the hosts as he complained he’d endured “a rigged deal” and accusing ABC News’ moderators of siding with Harris.

Harris’ top aides began calling for a second debate before the candidates had even left the stage in Philadelphia.

Fox News has proposed three October dates for a matchup moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, who are seen as less partial to Trump than other network anchors. During his “Fox & Friends” interview, Trump instead suggested right-wing commentators Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters as hosts, an arrangement Harris is almost certain to reject.

“The first thing they did is ask for a debate because when a fighter loses, he says ‘I want a rematch,’” Trump said on Fox. “I’d be less inclined to because we had a great night, we won the debate, we had a terrible network.”

Later in the day, he told reporters he might be open to a debate moderated by Fox News or NBC News.

Three Trump advisers said they couldn’t see him committing to facing Harris again.

“I would not do a second debate if I were him. She would never agree to a debate where she doesn’t have a tag team,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime ally, echoing Trump’s claims that ABC News was biased.

Early votingHarris, her running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, and their spouses will travel to the battleground states over four days, according to the campaign, which has pegged it as the “New Way Forward Tour,” seeking to persuade voters who desire change that Harris is their candidate. That could be a challenging message for a Democrat whose agenda is largely aligned with Biden, something Trump regularly points out.

The Harris campaign is also launching advertisements to underscore that message, including some featuring debate footage. In the first, released late Wednesday, Trump bemoans “a failing nation” while Harris offers a more optimistic view. Other ads will tout her proposals to make food, housing and prescription drugs more affordable.

Harris’ visits to North Carolina and Pennsylvania are also intended to secure early votes in the two states. Her Thursday stops in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina, were timed to the planned distribution of absentee ballots.

North Carolina, however, delayed its distribution of ballots after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who abandoned his independent presidential campaign to endorse Trump, successfully sued to have his name removed.

Harris’ Friday rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, will occur three days before that battleground becomes the first in the nation to kick off early voting, with Virginia, South Dakota and Vermont following next week.

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(With assistance from Akayla Gardner.)

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