Political strategist Donna Brazile said she believes Vice President Kamala Harris can win North Carolina, a key swing state that is turning “pink,” if her campaign employs specific strategies, during an interview on ABC News on Sunday.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos and Chris Christie, Brazile, an ex-DNC interim chair and former campaign manager, said that North Carolina “is a tough state, it’s getting bluer by the minute, maybe pink,” and the Harris campaign can win it by finding rural voters and tying gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson to Donald Trump.
“The Democrats have an opportunity to go to eastern North Carolina, to go beyond Charlotte and Raleigh, the triangle, and to find those voters in the rural areas,” Brazile said. “If they can find those voters in the rural areas.”
She went on to say that the Democrats should not only focus on finding voters in rural areas, but those in the northern suburbs of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County specifically.
Kamala Harris at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 12th. Harris and Donald Trump have been battling over the key swing state, and have been neck-and-neck in the polls since August.
Nell Redmond/Associated Press
Newsweek reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment via email outside of normal business hours.
In North Carolina, Harris has held rallies in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, according to Axios.
Brazile emphasized the importance of another presidential debate, saying: “She needs to close this deal by talking about the economy. She has to close this deal with voters by making sure that they understand what she will do differently to help them in their everyday lives.
“If she can get this debate with Donald Trump and do an incredible job, I think it will help her win this race.”
Brazile’s statements follow the Harris campaign’s acceptance of another presidential debate on October 23 hosted by CNN, which the Trump campaign rejected as being “too late,” as Newsweek previously reported.
Recent polling in the key battleground state reflects that the race will be neck-and-neck, as the two candidates have been flip-flopping small leads since August.
FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker shows Trump has a 0.1 lead on Harris according to poll averages.
The gap between candidates has continued to narrow since August, falling under 1% in polling averages. This follows Harris’ lead of 0.1 over Trump on September 18, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The last times the swing state elected a Democrat were in 2008 with Barack Obama, and 1976 with Jimmy Carter, according to 270toWin.
Brazile concluded by saying in order to win the presidency, Harris needs to reiterate her messages to key voters that could swing states, and she said: “Kamala Harris needs to talk to independents, she needs to make sure that her team is not comfortable on the ground, knock on more doors.
“Yes, there are a small number of people in certain states that must be touched and they’re not living in urban cities, they’re living in rural areas in the suburbs. She has to go directly to them.”
Chris Christie also spoke of what he believes are key methods to employ in the race to the White House, and said that in order to win the presidency, Donald Trump needs to “go back to talking about two things and two things only – affordability and the border.”
The former New Jersey governor also said that Trump should tie the border to “people’s perception that law enforcement is a problem in this country,” as he said these are the two topics where people believe Harris is weakest.
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