(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to find bipartisan agreement on the US-Mexico border at a rally in Georgia, seeking to blunt a line of attack from her rival Donald Trump and address one of her campaign’s biggest political liabilities.
“As president, I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed and I will sign it into law and show Donald Trump what real leadership looks like,” Harris said in Atlanta on Tuesday, referring to a bipartisan immigration deal that fell apart earlier this year after the Republican nominee urged his party to pull their support, denying President Joe Biden a political victory.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Harris for what he calls “weak” border security stances and mocked her as the “border czar” referring to her work on solving the root causes of immigration during the early years of the Biden administration.
Harris’ first rally in the battleground state of Georgia since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee highlighted how her campaign is expanding the electoral map, competing in states the party largely wrote off when Biden was atop their ticket.
It also demonstrates how the campaign is reacting to attacks from Republicans on an issue, the border, that polls show voters are more likely to trust Trump to handle than the vice president. Voters have pegged the surge in migrants across the southwest border as one of the defining issues of the 2024 election.
“She owns every single one of the Biden administration’s failure over the last four years,” said Trump’s running mate Senator JD Vance of Ohio at a rally in Reno, Nevada, Tuesday. “She unleashed the worst border crisis in American history on her watch.”
Harris’ campaign believes her popularity among key voting groups — including women, younger voters and people of color — is putting more states in play, according to people familiar with their thinking. Harris has seen a wave of enthusiasm from Democratic voters and lined up support from party heavyweights and donors since entering the race for president — a little over a week ago.
The excitement among the roughly 10,000 supporters gathered in the arena was on display. Rapper Quavo introduced her and musician Megan Thee Stallion performed in a blue suit and a crop top, floating a new slogan “Hotties for Harris,” which gained traction on social media. The state’s Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, also made appearances.
Earlier: Harris Expands Push to Compete With Trump in Swing States
Turning out Black voters in cities like Atlanta will be key to Democratic hopes of holding the White House. Biden narrowly carried Georgia in 2020 but polls showed his support among Black voters and young voters who helped drive him to victory had weakened. That unpopularity, also fueled by broad voter discontent with his handling of the economy, largely confined Biden to a narrow path to victory dependent on holding a trio of key Great Lakes states.
The vice president is shifting that dynamic, targeting not only the so-called Blue Wall of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania but also vying for Sun Belt states Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
Polling Boost
Polls have shown Harris narrowing the gap with Trump. A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey conducted from July 24-28 found Harris erasing Trump’s lead among voters in seven battleground states likely to determine the election. Harris is backed by 48% of voters to 47% for Trump, an edge within the margin of error.
In Georgia, the two are tied with 47% support each, with 51% of voters in the state saying they are more likely to vote now that Biden is not seeking reelection.
Both Trump and Harris’ campaigns have indicated they see Georgia in play. Tuesday’s rally marks the 15th time Harris has been to the Peach State — which is home to 24 campaign offices.
Trump and Vance are holding a rally in Atlanta on Saturday. The Republican nominee and his allied super political action committee have booked $14.7 million in advertising in Georgia through the end of August, according to AdImpact. That’s almost triple the $4.9 million that Future Forward PAC, which backs Harris, is set to spend.
Harris’ campaign on Tuesday launched a $50 million ad campaign in battleground states touting her background as a prosecutor. The announcement did not specify how much would be spent in Georgia.
Harris is also expected to announce her pick for vice president in the coming days, ahead of an Aug. 7 roll call vote to officially nominate the Democratic ticket.
--With assistance from Eliyahu Kamisher.
(Adds Vance comments in sixth paragraph)
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