Hound Lovers for Harris, Kallin’ for Kamala: part of Harris campaign pre-convention organizing blitz

Across battleground states, over 2,800 Kamala Harris organizing events are taking shape: A “Hound Lovers for Harris” meetup at a dog park in Van Buren Charter Township, Michigan, an organizing booth at Wisconsin’s Africa Fest in Madison, Wisconsin, and “Kallin’ for Kamala” phone banks in Fulton County, Georgia.

They’re all scheduled for the weekend leading up to the Democratic convention in Chicago, as the campaign is banking on its “relational organizing model” to maintain the party’s enthusiasm, which began with her entry into the race about a month ago. 

The Democratic ticket’s weekend of action, details of which were first shared with CBS News, will also feature a bus tour with Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in Western Pennsylvania.

Weekend events range from traditional canvassing to niche gatherings of Harris supporters, such as dog owners in the Detroit area and various surrogate events that feature figures like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, musician Ben Folds and actor Emmy Rossum.

All of the activities point to the gathering of thousands of Democratic delegates, activists and operatives to Chicago for the party’s four-day convention next week. 

Harris is slated to close out the convention on Thursday night, while Walz speaks Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the planning. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as 2016 Democratic nominee and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will also speak. 

On Tuesday, the second day of the convention, Harris will also hold a campaign rally in nearby Milwaukee.

Traditionally, major party candidates see a heightened energy, increased fundraising and a polling bump following their respective conventions. But Harris, in part due to the timing of her late entry into the race, has seen all happen prior to the convention. 

In an early August CBS News poll, Harris registered 6 points better against former President Donald Trump than President Biden did. Her crowds at last week’s tour through the battleground states dwarfed the turnout at Mr. Biden’s events before he withdrew from the race. 

And Harris raised $311 million the closing weeks of July, with another $48 million raised last week after she announced Walz as her running mate. With that new cash infusion, the campaign announced Wednesday a $90 million ad buy for the rest of August. 

Harris’ campaign is prioritizing converting the high attendance at her rallies into a high number of campaign volunteers in key battleground states. One example — the campaign was able to recruit over 5,000 at a rally in Las Vegas last Saturday to sign up for volunteer shifts.

“This week will show voters who Vice President Kamala Harris is, from her record as a tough-as-nails prosecutor to her work delivering for working families, and how that stands in stark contrast with the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency,” said Harris campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen. “This campaign is taking nothing for granted, doing the hard work to reach the battleground state voters who will decide this election.”

Despite the signs of momentum, Harris refers to herself as the underdog in the race. 

And the race remains tight: CBS News’ latest polling has Harris up just 1 point on Trump, and within the margin of error in all seven battleground states. 

In the lead-up to the Democratic convention, Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance have held multiple press conferences and campaign stops, launching attacks towards Mr. Biden, Harris and some of her recently proposed economic plans. 

“Let them have their convention. And who knows how that’s going to turn out. Joe Biden is a very angry man. You know that right? Because they took it away from him. They usurped it,” Trump said during a Wednesday rally in Asheville, N.C. Harris quickly won the support of Democratic delegates following Mr. Biden’s exit. 

But Harris has benefited from taking over a battleground state infrastructure Mr. Biden had, which is unmatched by Trump and Republicans. The week before his fateful debate against Trump, Mr. Biden’s campaign had just hired its 1,000th staffer and boasted 200 coordinated offices in the battleground state. Now, the Harris campaign says it has over 1,600 staffers and over 280 offices across the country. 

Pro-Harris organizing efforts outside the campaign have also continued. A drumbeat of large Zoom calls began the night of Harris’ campaign launch, when the “Win With Black Women” organization held a virtual meeting that over 44,000 Black women and allies attended. 

On Thursday night, “Hype Women for Harris” launched its first of seven virtual calls, with WNBA player Cameron Brink as well as actors Jamie Lee Curtis, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Sophia Bush slated to appear.