Democrats eye overseas voters to win battleground states
The party expects November’s election ‘to be won on the margin’
12 August 2024 - 16:24
byAndrea Shalal
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Democratic presidential candidate and US vice-president Kamala Harris attends a campaign event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, the US, August 10 2024. Picture|: REUTERS/KEVIN MOHATT
Washington — The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will spend more than $100,000 in a first push to register the 9-million Americans living abroad, working to win votes for the party nominee and US vice-president Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election.
The funding for Democrats Abroad, which represents Democrats living outside the US, will be used to pay for voter registration drives and spread information about how to vote from overseas, a DNC official said on Monday.
DNC officials said there were more than 1.6-million Americans from the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin living overseas, and it would fight for every vote.
Those states are essential for Harris or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to win the election. US President Joe Biden beat Trump to win the 2020 presidency by winning just 44,000 votes across Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin.
“The DNC is leaving no stone left unturned to ensure that Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States,” it said in a statement, noting that only 8% of Americans living outside the country had registered to vote in the 2020 election.
“This election will be won on the margins, and with only three months until the election, every vote matters — including the votes of those who are serving or living abroad.”
The largest contingent of Americans living overseas resides in Mexico, a DNC official said, with the next largest numbers living in various countries in Europe.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, last week toured multiple political battleground states, packing rallies with thousands of people and building on the momentum that has propelled her since she took over at the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden, 81, ended his candidacy.
Biden endorsed Harris after a poor televised performance against Trump sparked turmoil within the Democratic Party and fuelled concerns that he could not beat the former president or finish a second four-year term.
Harris has pulled ahead of Trump by four percentage points each in separate polls of voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania conducted by the New York Times and Siena College, a big change from polls in those swing states taken before Biden quit last month.
Nationally, Harris was ahead of Trump by five percentage points, 42% to 37%, in an Ipsos poll published on Thursday, widening her lead from a July 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos survey, which showed her to be up 37% to 34%.
Martha McDevitt-Pugh, who chairs Democrats Abroad, called the DNC funding “a powerful affirmation of our work and the importance of the overseas electorate, who vote back in their home state and have been the margin of victory in numerous pivotal races, such as delivering Georgia in 2020.”
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Democrats eye overseas voters to win battleground states
The party expects November’s election ‘to be won on the margin’
Washington — The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will spend more than $100,000 in a first push to register the 9-million Americans living abroad, working to win votes for the party nominee and US vice-president Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election.
The funding for Democrats Abroad, which represents Democrats living outside the US, will be used to pay for voter registration drives and spread information about how to vote from overseas, a DNC official said on Monday.
DNC officials said there were more than 1.6-million Americans from the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin living overseas, and it would fight for every vote.
Those states are essential for Harris or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to win the election. US President Joe Biden beat Trump to win the 2020 presidency by winning just 44,000 votes across Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin.
“The DNC is leaving no stone left unturned to ensure that Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States,” it said in a statement, noting that only 8% of Americans living outside the country had registered to vote in the 2020 election.
“This election will be won on the margins, and with only three months until the election, every vote matters — including the votes of those who are serving or living abroad.”
The largest contingent of Americans living overseas resides in Mexico, a DNC official said, with the next largest numbers living in various countries in Europe.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, last week toured multiple political battleground states, packing rallies with thousands of people and building on the momentum that has propelled her since she took over at the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden, 81, ended his candidacy.
Biden endorsed Harris after a poor televised performance against Trump sparked turmoil within the Democratic Party and fuelled concerns that he could not beat the former president or finish a second four-year term.
Harris has pulled ahead of Trump by four percentage points each in separate polls of voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania conducted by the New York Times and Siena College, a big change from polls in those swing states taken before Biden quit last month.
Nationally, Harris was ahead of Trump by five percentage points, 42% to 37%, in an Ipsos poll published on Thursday, widening her lead from a July 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos survey, which showed her to be up 37% to 34%.
Martha McDevitt-Pugh, who chairs Democrats Abroad, called the DNC funding “a powerful affirmation of our work and the importance of the overseas electorate, who vote back in their home state and have been the margin of victory in numerous pivotal races, such as delivering Georgia in 2020.”
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.