Joe Biden goes on offense with trip to Georgia as Donald Trump plays defense with rallies in must-win Michigan and Wisconsin and one in Omaha where a single electoral college vote could prove crucial
One week until Election Day, Joe Biden is going on offense, heading Tuesday to Georgia - which hasn't backed a Democrat for president since 1992 – and pushing into other territory where President Donald Trump was once expected to easily repeat his wins from four years ago.
The Democratic presidential nominee planned to travel to Iowa, which Trump took by 10 points in 2016, later in the week. His running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, is heading to Arizona and Texas, where Republicans haven´t lost any statewide office since 1994 - the nation´s longest political winning streak.
The aggressive schedule is a sign of confidence by the Biden team, which is trying to stretch the electoral map and open up more paths to 270 electoral college votes. But after Democrats flirted with GOP territory in 2016, only to lose those states as well as their traditional Midwestern strongholds, Biden´s campaign is mindful of overreaching.
The former vice president will also visit in the coming days Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a voter activation center in Chester, Pennsylvania on October 26, 2020. He heads to Georgia on Tuesday
Georgia, where Biden will make two stops on Tuesday, has increasingly become a draw for Democrats in recent years, as turnout increases among Black voters and the Atlanta suburbs tilt away from the GOP.
It also features important Senate races – factors that are also playing into Biden's travel decisions for the last week of the race.
'If this was the Georgia of 2008, 2012, I think ther's no way we would have seen a Biden come this late,' said Nsé Ufot, chief executive officer of the New Georgia Project, which aims to increase voter registration, especially among young people and minorities. 'It's a loud signal and acknowledgment of Georgia as a battleground state.'
President Trump heads to Wisconsin and Michigan, while pursuing a single electoral vote in Nebraska
Biden is getting back on the campaign trail after staying close to home and speaking to supporters in Pennsylvania Monday
Democratic Senate candidate Reverend Raphael Warnock speaks at a rally on October 24, 2020, in Duluth, Georgia. Biden's travel takes him to a state with two Senate races
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump line up to attend a campaign rally with Trump at Capital Region International Airport October 27, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan
The state was a tie in the latest CBS / YouGov poll, and Trump's average lead is less than 1 per cent there in polls taken this month.
Trump is staying focused on the so-called 'blue wall' states that he flipped in 2016: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where he'll return on Tuesday to hit West Salem just three days after holding a Janesville rally.
The states helped hand him a victory, but they also are states where Biden's lead has been persistent.
Biden was polling over 50 per cent in polls released Monday in both Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump touted his trips on Twitter. 'Three BIG Rallies today. Lansing, Michigan. West Salem, Wisconsin. Omaha, Nebraska. We are winning all over the place. See you later!!!' he wrote.
'7 DAYS!!!' Trump wrote in another tweet.
Trump is outpacing Biden in travel, but Biden has a big advantage in battleground on the air. He is doubling Trump's campaign spending in Arizona, tripling it in Florida, and tripling it in Georgia over the last seven days.
While Biden rarely travels to more than one state per day, the Republican president has maintained a whirlwind schedule, crisscrossing the country and making the argument that he built a booming economy before the coronavirus pandemic upended it.
His latest swing could be a victory lap after the Senate on Monday approved the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and gave conservatives a commanding 6-3 advantage on the Supreme Court. Trump has sought to use the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month to animate conservative evangelical and Catholic voters to his candidacy, but the high court fight has been overshadowed by concerns over the coronavirus with cases surging.
Biden, meanwhile, is hoping to lift Democrats running for Senate in Georgia and Iowa with this travel plans. He planned to unveil his closing message during a Tuesday speech in Warm Springs, Georgia, where natural hot springs offered President Franklin Delano Roosevelt comfort as he battled polio and governed a nation weathering the Great Depression and World War II.
The former vice president's campaign says his appearance will bookend his visit earlier this month to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, when Biden used the site of the bloody Civil War battle to issue a call for bipartisanship and putting country ahead of party. On Tuesday, he will try to evoke Roosevelt's New Deal sensitivities while promising to restore the nation's character.
'This is our opportunity to leave the dark, angry politics of the past four years behind us,' Biden declares in a 60-second closing ad airing on national cable channels and 16 states his campaign considers battlegrounds.
Both campaigns focused Monday on Pennsylvania, with Trump drawing thousands of largely mask-less supporters to rallies while Biden popped just over the border from his home in Delaware to greet a small group of supporters outside a campaign field office in Chester.
Biden declared, 'Bottom line is Donald Trump is the worst possible person to lead us through this pandemic.' Trump countered that his Democratic challenger would impose unnecessary shutdowns.
'It´s a choice between a Trump boom or a Biden lockdown,' the president said at a rally in Allentown.
With more than a third of the expected ballots in the election already cast, it could become increasingly challenging for Trump and Biden to reshape the race. Biden is leading in most national polls and has an advantage, though narrower, in many key battlegrounds.
The campaign's final week is colliding with deepening concerns about the COVID crisis. Trump is anxious for voters to focus on other issues such as the economy. Biden, meanwhile, has repeatedly hit Trump on the virus while presenting himself as a safer, more stable alternative.
Several close aides to Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the virus last weekend, including his chief of staff, Marc Short. Pence, though, has maintained a packed travel schedule. On Tuesday he'll be in South Carolina, a potential boost for Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is in a potentially tight reelection race.
Biden has accused Trump of 'waving the white flag' in his response to the virus, while Trump fired back Monday that the former vice president 'waved a white flag on life.'
Anticipating a razor-thin Electoral College margin, Trump has an aggressive schedule including a visit to Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday after a Sunday visit to Maine, aiming to lock up one electoral vote in each of the states that award them by congressional district. The president is scheduled hold a dizzying 11 rallies in the final 48 hours before polls close.
Democrats have been heartened by their lead in the record numbers of early votes that have been cast across a number of battleground states - though they caution that Republicans are more likely to turn out on Election Day.
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AP´s Advance Voting guide brings you the facts about voting early, by mail or absentee from each state: https://interactives.ap.org/advance-voting-2020/.
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at HoverTech International, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks with supporters outside a voter service center, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Chester, Pa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Donald Trump tosses hats into the crowd as he arrives for a campaign rally at the Altoona-Blair County Airport in Martinsburg, Pa, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. (John Rucosky/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)
A man wearing a U.S. Navy baseball hat watches as Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media outside a voter service center, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Chester, Pa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he departs after speaking at a campaign rally at Altoona-Blair County Airport, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Martinsburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
eople attend a 'Make America Great Again!' event with Donald Trump Jr. in Washington, Mich., Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. (Daniel Mears/Detroit News via AP)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a campaign event, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a campaign stop at the Hibbing, Minn., Airport, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Jack Rendulich)