In a recent discussion on MSNBC, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) — who is known for winning a Senate runoff election in Georgia the day before the 2021 Capitol riot — argued that the roll-out of Vice President Kamala Harris’ now rapidly advancing presidential campaign has been a marvel.
“And I think that the vice president’s launch has been spectacular,” Ossoff said. “It’s exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were high. She rapidly united the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, seized the momentum in this head-to-head race against former President Trump, and she’s electrifying volunteers and grassroots Democrats across the country. She’s put Georgia in play. We now have a statistical tie in Georgia.”
Ossoff also appeared at a recent rally held for Harris in Atlanta, as did the state’s other Senator, Raphael Warnock, another Democrat. The way that presidential elections work means that surging Democratic turnout in localities like Atlanta — already a Democratic-leaning area — can help buoy the party’s contender at the state level, where votes are essentially pooled for the electoral college. And turnout at the Harris event reportedly flew past 10,000 people.
Among other new polling, a recent Public Policy Polling survey found Harris a percentage point ahead of Trump in Georgia — which, though too small in a polling context to make a sweeping generalization about the state of the presidential race, would nonetheless still hand Harris the state’s electoral votes if repeated in November. President Joe Biden, who ultimately withdrew from this year’s presidential election and endorsed Harris, won Georgia in 2020 — breaking a long streak of Republican victories there in presidential elections.
Harris is also doing well in other swing states, according to polling. Data from Bloomberg and Morning Consult found a Harris lead of between 11 and 12 percent in Michigan, depending on the precise list of candidates presented to survey participants.
