REPORT: Harris Staffers Are Terrified Over Lack Of Interviews, Swing State Rallies: ‘Trump Is Everywhere’

Democratic Party staffers, including a number of Harris-Walz Campaign staffers, are increasingly worried about the campaign’s activities. Staffers are reportedly worried about the campaign’s historic lack of media availability, as well as the lack of swing state rallies, according to a report from Politico citing nearly two dozen Democratic Party strategists and staffers.

A number of staffers expressed concern over what they see as a “do-no-harm, risk-averse approach” down the stretch of the campaign cycle.

Harris spent just three days in battleground states over the final week of September. Trump, on the other hand, held multiple rallies in one day throughout the same time period and also took time to attend the Alabama-Georgia college football game last Saturday.

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“And beyond concerns about her schedule, Democrats argue that Harris would benefit from venues that allow her to introduce herself to voters in a more authentic way, such as town hall events, more sit-down interviews and unscripted exchanges with voters,” Politico reported, further noting that Harris was attending a San Francisco fundraiser while Trump was at the game.

“There’s a time at which you just have to barnstorm these battlegrounds,” said veteran political strategist David Axelrod, who played a prominent role in former President Obama’s 2008 campaign.“These races are decathlons, and there are a lot of events, and you have to do all of them because people want to test you.”

“It’s the most difficult oral exam on the planet for the most difficult job, and part of that is just that spontaneous — town halls, all kinds of interviews, and not just friendly interviews. OTRs where you interact in a substantive way with people, all of those things are valuable,” he continued. “And I would be doing them if I were her.”

A former Biden staffer compared the Harris-Walz Campaign strategy to that of Hilary Clinton’s ill-fated White House bid in 2016. “We know this isn’t actually 2016 again, and it’s not like she’s not going to Wisconsin,” the staffer said in reference to Clinton’s infamous decision to ignore the state. “But we can still learn from that. Trump is everywhere again, just like he was then. Our side needs to be, too.”

While Democrats acknowledged that the campaign has more enthusiasm since President Biden decided to step aside, fears persist over the vice president’s strategy. Some have argued that Harris is running as if she is protecting the lead, all while campaigning as an underdog.

“While the plan is for Harris’ travel to ramp up in October, the vice president has spent more than a third of days since the Democratic National Convention receiving briefings from staff and conducting internal meetings, or without any scheduled public events,” Politico reported.

While a one-to-one comparison with President Biden’s 2020 election campaign is impossible due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, data from Eric Appleman’s Democracy in Action found that the Harris-Walz Campaign has several similarities with the Clinton Campaign.

“Looking at the same time period in those two elections, Obama had just two days with no public events, and his schedule was packed daily with an array of campaign events, brief appearances at local restaurants, fundraisers, and other events. Clinton, by contrast, had roughly the same number of days with no events that Harris has had, including a brief stint where she was treated for pneumonia,” Politico reported.

Staffers had differing opinions on how Harris should spend the remainder of campaign time, though it is widely believed that she needs to spend more time in the Rust Belt. “Do not go to Georgia one more time,” one Democratic operative said. “You gotta get to Michigan. You need to live in Pennsylvania [because] the challenge is still Black voters in Philadelphia, Black voters in Detroit.”

The campaign also hopes to deploy Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for a number of campaign events and swing state interviews following his disastrous debate performance earlier this week.

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