‘The Timing Is Not Good’: Dem Strategist Sounds Alarm About Harris’ Chances In Crucial Commonwealth

Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine warned Wednesday that a new Politico article highlighting anxiety from Pennsylvania Democrats about Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign reveals significant issues in the commonwealth.

Twenty Pennsylvania Democratic elected officials, leaders and supporters expressed to Politico that Harris‘ aides do not have connections with important individuals, especially in the Philadelphia area, and suggested the vice president’s staff is falling short in efforts to mobilize nonwhite voters. Turrentine, on journalist Mark Halperin’s 2WAY platform, asserted the article indicates a lack of confidence in Harris’ ability to secure a win in Pennsylvania.

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“Unfortunately, this is not the type of story that you see from winning campaigns. When you’re having problems, the finger-pointing starts … The timing is not good,” Turrentine said. “I mean, thankfully, there are, you know, within that story, some people saying, like, ‘I think we’ll win the state in spite of these efforts.’ But there’s obviously tension, and it’s not the type of thing that you want to see less than three weeks out when you’re trying to convince people to remain calm.”

“I think there’s also tension because she’s spending so much time in the western part of the state and in the rural parts of the state, you know, appropriately so, trying to limit the margins of her defeat in those areas, which is smart,” he added. “But I mean, I’ve heard this now for a couple weeks — there is increasing anxiety about, you know, Philadelphia.”

Former President Donald Trump currently has a 0.3% lead over Harris in Pennsylvania, while also slightly leading her in five out of the other seven top battleground states, according to the RealClearPolling averages. Pennsylvania carries the most electoral votes of the seven swing states and 12 of the 15 past presidents secured their victories with help from the commonwealth.

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten on Friday said Harris is “considerably” lagging behind the leads that President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held over Trump in 2016 and 2020 in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. She leads Trump by a single point in each state, according to his aggregated polling data.

“This is the type of thing that, at least in the public polling, makes Democrats worry,” he said. “And I think that the public polling in this case is reflected in some of that internal polling, some of that reporting that suggests that these Great Lake battleground states have certainly tightened a lot where at this point they are way too close to call.”