Vice President Kamala Harris has enlisted help from across the political spectrum as the election heads towards a potential photo finish, with surrogates as diverse as Republican former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and actress Kerry Washington campaigning for her Friday in swing states.
Harris is narrowly maintaining her lead over former President Donald Trump in the polls, with polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight putting the vice president 1.7 points ahead nationally, though Trump would win if the current polling across seven battleground states is accurate.
In Wisconsin, where the Democratic nominee is currently 0.2 points ahead of Trump, per FiveThirtyEight, Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly will be joined by former Wisconsin state Assembly candidate Tiffany Koehler, and Joe Fitzgerald for a “Republicans for Harris” press call.
Reilly, who left the Republican Party in 2021 after the January 6 Capitol riots, announced Thursday he was endorsing Harris for president, saying he was “terrified” of Trump winning.
Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks during a campaign rally at the James R Hallford Stadium on October 24, 2024 in Clarkston, Georgia. Harris and Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald…
Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks during a campaign rally at the James R Hallford Stadium on October 24, 2024 in Clarkston, Georgia. Harris and Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, continue campaigning in battleground swing states before the November 5 election.
More
Joe Raedle/Gettyimages;
Harris has been endorsed by a series of high-profile Republicans in recent months all with similarly dire messages about a second Trump presidency. These include former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, former Kansas Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, Kansas state Sen. Sandy Praeger, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
Also on Friday, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld—both Republicans—will campaign in must-win Pennsylvania with transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Duncan played a pivotal role in withstanding pressure from the Trump administration back in 2020, when attempts were made to call a special session of Georgia’s legislature to swing the outcome of the election in favor of the former president.
He has since described Trump as “one of the biggest mistakes this countries ever made,” in a 2023 interview with NPR.
Harris was narrowly ahead in the Keystone State until recently, according to FiveThirtyEight, but her lead has been erased, with Trump now only just in the lead by 0.3 points.
This week, Harris has enlisted the support of some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Samuel L. Jackson and Beyoncé, who is reportedly appearing at a rally with the vice president in Houston today.
And the slew of stars doesn’t stop there, with singer Mandy Moore and Scandal star Kerry Washington joining the campaign trail on Friday. Washington will be in Pittsburgh for a press conference. Moore will join Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz at a rally in Marquette, Michigan. Moore will also participate in a campaign event in Ann Arbor with Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Pete Buttigieg.
Harris is leading in Michigan by 0.7 points, her largest polling margin of all the swing states. Trump’s biggest swing state lead is currently in Arizona, where he is 1.8 points ahead.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.