Former Obama campaign officials are raising serious concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign momentum just hours before Election Day, citing troubling early voting patterns and enthusiasm gaps in key demographics.
Jim Messina, Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, told MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” that early voting numbers “are a little scary” for Harris, causing several of his “friends to call me panicking” after comparing against 2020’s data.
“Republicans didn’t do what they did last time,” Messina said, noting that former President Donald Trump’s campaign has embraced early voting in 2024. “Last time, Trump said don’t early vote so they didn’t. Republicans do have an advantage in early vote numbers. When the early votes come in, it’s going to look a little bit different than 2020, and that’s scary.”
David Axelrod, Obama’s chief campaign strategist, echoed these concerns on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Well, look. The watchword of the day is humility, here. When you have polls that are this close… you’re not sure of anything. It really matters who shows up because these polls are not precise,” Axelrod said. “So what I’m worried about is how we’re telling some women who are independent that Republican women, who are independent Republican women to come out and vote for Kamala Harris.”
“Is that going to materialize? Is the gender gap going to be what you need it to be? Are minority voters going to come out in numbers — particularly African American voters — and are you going to get the margins that you want, there?” Axelrod asked.
Democrats have scrambled to point to some encouraging signs in early voting data that has otherwise favored Republicans.
“Women voters make up 55% of the early voters and in the past 10 days, young voters in these battleground states are coming out in what looks to be, for early votes, historic numbers,” Messina said.
Both campaigns made final pushes Monday in Pennsylvania, with Trump holding a Pittsburgh rally featuring appearances by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly.