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Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has aggressively launched her campaign in the strategically important state of Wisconsin. She has presented herself as the opposite of Republican candidate Donald Trump. “You all helped us win in 2020. And we will win again in 2024.”
Harris said this to cheering supporters in Milwaukee. It was the 59-year-old’s first real campaign speech in her new role. The US Vice President is opening her race for the US presidency with enormous support from the ranks of the Democrats and record amounts of donations .
Wisconsin is an important swing state
That is why these states are crucial for the election. Wisconsin, with its almost six million inhabitants, is predominantly agricultural. Last week, the Republican Party Convention took place in the metropolis of Milwaukee, where Harris also appeared.
Trump was officially chosen as his party’s candidate there. In the 2020 presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump in Wisconsin. This time, too, the race is shaping up to be extremely close.
Special electoral system in the USA
US presidents are not elected directly by the citizens, but by electors. Their votes almost always go entirely to the winner in the state that sends these electors. No matter how close the result there is. To enter the White House, 270 electoral votes are needed.
In the presidential election on November 5, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina are among the most hotly contested states. Because of the electoral system, a candidate can receive the most votes nationwide, but not the most electoral votes. This also happened in 2016, when Democrat Hillary Clinton was ahead by more than 2.8 million votes nationwide – but Trump moved into the White House.
A recent survey by the Ipsos polling institute and the Reuters news agency puts Harris two percentage points ahead of Trump at the national level with 44 percent support. However, the difference is within the margin of error and therefore only has limited significance. Because of the special electoral system in the USA, national surveys are only a barometer of the mood anyway. It remains to be seen whether Harris can beat Trump.
Harris presents herself as a tough prosecutor
Harris tried to score points with her biography in her speech in Wisconsin. She was the district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general in her home state of California. “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said, making a similar statement to the one she had made to her campaign team the day before.
An indication that this may be a strategy in the election campaign . “I took on the big banks on Wall Street and held them accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of 34 counts of fraud,” she said.
Trump was found guilty at the end of May in a trial for concealing hush money payments to a porn actress. It is the first time in US history that a former president has been convicted of a crime.
Hillary Clinton: «Kamala Harris can beat Donald Trump»
Harris was previously able to secure the important support of the Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. The Democrats had already closed ranks behind her. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times: “I know Kamala Harris can beat Donald Trump .”
According to US media estimates, Harris currently has the support of enough Democratic delegates to be nominated as her party’s candidate. The Democrats will choose their candidate at the latest at the Republican Party Convention in Chicago, which begins on August 19.
Trump shows his claws
At the same time, Trump is trying to prevent Harris from accessing funds that Biden collected when he was still a presidential candidate. According to US media, Trump’s team filed a complaint with the relevant authority. The move is not surprising.
On his mouthpiece Truth Social, the 78-year-old denigrated his political opponent as “Lyin’ Kamala Harris . ” Before that, he called her “Laughing Kamala,” presumably because of Harris’s conspicuous laugh. Trump regularly invents unflattering nicknames for his rivals.
Let’s wait for the Mailman.