Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said Wednesday that the Trump campaign is “playing offense” on the 2024 campaign trail, claiming that recent moves by the Democratic Party signal it is attempting to hold on to typically blue states.
Vice President Kamala Harris‘s campaign has made stops in various states where Trump was gaining support earlier this year, including the Democratic presidential nominee visiting New Hampshire on Wednesday and second gentleman Doug Emhoff visiting Virginia on Monday. Whatley assured the Republican Party is still campaigning in those states, even after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid.
“We’re playing offense, and they are playing defense,” Whatley said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom. “That’s the simplest way to put it. When you think about it, Donald Trump is reaching out to every single American family. He’s reaching out to every single voter, and that includes states like Virginia and New Hampshire and Minnesota, where the Democrats are having to play defense. You think about every single one of the battleground states that we’re playing in right now, Donald Trump has leads. Donald Trump is solidifying those leads. Kamala Harris’s sugar high has ended, and we are returning right now, coming out of Labor Day, into this campaign season for real, and Donald Trump is in a great place, and we’re playing offense.”
Like other Republicans, Whatley expressed doubt that Harris will be able to effectively distance herself from Biden and his leadership, especially ahead of the next presidential debate. He also contended that Harris’s first interview as a presidential candidate last week showed “she’s not ready for prime time.”
Whatley argued the RNC and Trump’s message to voters is “cutting through all of the clutter” on the Democratic Party’s aisle.
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Polling data show Harris and Trump leading each other in various swing states. The vice president has a lead among likely voters in Wisconsin and Michigan, and her opponent is ahead with the same group in Arizona. In Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada, likely voters are split between the two candidates.
Last month, polling data indicated that Harris was ahead in Virginia by only 3 percentage points, with 8% of those surveyed being undecided between her and Trump. A previous poll, published before Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, showed the same 3-point difference between Trump and Biden in July.