Amidst a flurry of political news, the final 100 days of campaigning before the 2024 presidential election promise to be eventful and unpredictable. With historic twists and turns rocking the presidential race, the political battlegrounds are being redrawn for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Since June 27, when President Joe Biden’s poor performance in a debate with Trump sent the Democratic Party into disarray, the game has changed for both parties. The event prompted Trump’s team to consider expanding the electoral map.
The scenario was upended again after the former president survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Days later, he chose Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate and rallied the Republican Party at its convention in Milwaukee.
Then, a week ago, Biden announced his withdrawal from the race, naming Harris, his vice president, as his successor. In the span of 36 hours, Harris mobilized the party’s support, garnering a majority of delegates at the Democratic National Convention to become the party’s official nominee.
She then went on a campaign spree, meeting with voters in the swing state of Wisconsin on Tuesday, a black sorority on Wednesday, and teachers on Thursday. On Friday morning, she proudly announced the endorsements of Barack and Michelle Obama.
In the face of Harris’ apparent momentum, Trump has responded with a series of personal attacks. At recent campaign rallies, he has called her “evil,” mocked her laugh and the pronunciation of her name, and said that “the American dream is dead” if Harris wins in November. In response, the vice president has called the attacks “bizarre.”
Polls are only beginning to capture the new state of this campaign that has no clear front-runner. The Democratic vice presidential pick, the upcoming convention, and the potential showdowns between Harris and Trump could further shape the course of the next 100 days leading up to Election Day on November 5.
The issues and lines of attack on both sides are becoming increasingly clear. Trump’s campaign has focused on inflation, border security, and crime, insisting that Harris is as responsible as Biden on these issues and more liberal than her superior.
However, Trump has also stepped up his attacks on Harris, criticizing her in personal terms at recent campaign events. At a gathering of Christian conservatives in Florida, he called Harris a “scumbag three weeks ago” before she was nominated as the Democratic front-runner, calling her “the most incompetent, unpopular, and far-left vice president in American history.”.
At a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Trump called Harris “evil” for her handling of the border, going so far as to say that if “a crazy liberal like Kamala Harris gets into office, the American dream is dead.”
He also mocked his Democratic challenger’s laughter, saying the media was trying to portray her as a “Margaret Thatcher,” but that “it’s not going to happen” because “Margaret Thatcher didn’t laugh like that.”
A spokeswoman for Harris responded to Trump’s Minnesota speech by denigrating the Republican candidate as a “bitter, unhinged, doomed old man.”
In recent public appearances since her nomination as the Democratic nominee, Harris has confronted Trump on abortion rights and portrayed him as a threat to freedoms.
In a tense political climate, the coming months promise to be full of twists and turns and confrontations. The date is set for November 5, the fateful date when America will decide its political future.