US Vice President Kamala Harris has further increased the tension surrounding her so-called running mate. On Monday, people were still waiting for her to announce which vice presidential candidate she would run with in the November election. Meanwhile, two new polls showed the Democratic presidential candidate-designate with a slight national lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump.
Harris apparently wanted to make her vice presidential selection for strategic reasons. The candidate at her side should help her reach a broader spectrum of voters and win in key states that are crucial to the election – the “swing states”.
Most recently, the governors of the states of Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Minnesota, Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear and Tim Walz, as well as Senator Mark Kelly, who sits in the Congressional Chamber for the state of Arizona, were the main targets.
Harris announced a few days ago that she and her running mate would be embarking on a campaign tour lasting several days through seven swing states starting on Tuesday. An appearance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was planned for the beginning. It was therefore expected that Harris would name her running mate either on Monday or on Tuesday before the election rally.
Harris has not yet been officially nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, but this is now just a formality. On Friday, the party headquarters announced that Harris had received enough votes for her nomination in the electronic vote for the presidential candidate. She had no rival in the vote.
The virtual voting began on Thursday and was scheduled to run until 6 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight CEST) this Monday.
Since 81-year-old President Joe Biden announced on July 21 that he would not run for re-election after weeks of discussion about his mental fitness and advocated for Harris as his successor, the vice president has been riding a wave of approval that has put Trump on the defensive.
In the polls, Harris has steadily caught up with her Republican opponent – and in two recent polls she has even slightly overtaken him nationwide. According to a survey published on Monday by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harris is three percentage points ahead of Trump nationwide – while in its previous survey in January, the university had seen Biden four points behind Trump.
In a CBS News/YouGov poll published on Sunday, Harris is one percentage point ahead of Trump, while Biden was five points behind his rival at the time of his exit. Harris and Trump are currently neck and neck in the swing states.
If she wins on November 5, Harris would become the first woman, the first African-American and the first person of Asian descent to hold the U.S. presidency.
