Swing state GOP leader admits election 'going to be a little tighter' with Harris as nominee

28 August 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris' surging momentum has made the 2024 election extremely competitive in several must-win battleground states — and Republicans are taking notice.

NBC News reported Wednesday that Harris, who is making Georgia her first campaign stop after last week's Democratic National Convention, is rattling GOP leaders in the former GOP stronghold. President Joe Biden delivered the Peach State for Democrats by less than 12,000 votes, and now that Harris' candidacy has re-energized Democrats, Republicans are preparing for a battle.

In Gwinnett County — which lies just north of the Atlanta metro area — Biden defeated former President Donald Trump by roughly 80,000 votes, contributing to his slim victory. Gwinnett County Republican Party chairman Sammy Baker told NBC that his party will have to work even harder to flip the Peach State back to the GOP.

“I was very, very comfortable that it would be — not an easy win, but it would be a 4- or 5-point win. I think it’s going to be a little tighter now, because I think she’s energized a few of the Democrats that were not energized before, and they seem to be a little more active,” Baker said.

As NBC noted, Gwinnett County went from voting for 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney by nearly 10 points, to a majority of voters breaking for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 by five percentage points, to an 18-point rout for Biden. Baker said that despite the growing trend of his county favoring Democrats, Trump could still notch a win by making the 2024 election about policy.

"I really think the whole thing comes down to this: Trump stays on message, and he wins. Just border, the economy, inflation, housing,” he said. “If he stays on those issues, I definitely think that’s a win. And that’s what they need to concentrate on. Stay on that.”

Despite Baker's wishes, Trump has so far struggled to keep his stump speeches focused on policy discussions. During a speech in Asheville, North Carolina earlier this month that was meant to be about his plans for the economy, the former president quickly pivoted to trotting out personal attacks on Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He did the same during a press conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he was surrounded by groceries to illustrate higher prices, but spent most of the presser lobbing insults at the Democratic ticket.

Georgia was initially thought to be a state where Trump had the edge over Biden. But after Harris became the presumptive nominee, she is now neck-and-neck with the former president. The Peach State's 16 electoral votes are a must-win for Trump, whose campaign is counting on eking out a win over Democrats in three pivotal battleground states to crack the 270-vote threshold.

"As long as we hold North Carolina, we just need to win Georgia and Pennsylvania. That’s all we need to win," an unnamed senior Trump adviser told NBC.

Harris is spending Wednesday on a bus tour of several Georgia counties, while Walz is headed to Boston to address a firefighters' union. The two will be doing a joint interview with CNN on Thursday — their first sit-down with any major media outlet since the Harris campaign began in earnest a little over a month ago.

Click here to read NBC's report in its entirety.

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