DNC chair says party targeting states including Florida, North Carolina

(The Hill) - Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison argued Sunday that the enthusiasm for Vice President Harris’s campaign has made Florida and North Carolina competitive for the November election, as Democrats look to expand their target map.

“I have never seen this type of energy, this type of organizing, grassroots organizing, and in all my years of being involved in politics,” Harrison said in an MSNBC “The Weekend” interview.

Harris’s campaign raised more than $200 million in its first week, and signed up more than 170,000 volunteers. Harrison said Democrats are more likely to go on offense now that Harris is at the top of the ticket.

“We have over 1100 staff across the country in our battleground states, that's not counting in our nonbattleground states. We have over 200 offices across the battleground states,” he said. “We are supporting also through our red state program states that are not battlegrounds, but we believe we can be competitive, and so that's happening right now.” 

“This is an energy on the ground I have not seen since Barack Obama in 2008,” he continued. “And I'm telling folks, don't sleep on Florida, don't sleep on North Carolina, because we are going to have the boots on the ground to win those tight, close elections.”

Biden's campaign polling found the president far behind former President Trump in states such as North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Now, with Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, recent polling has found the vice president within striking distance in some of those states. 

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is also bullish on Harris’s chances in the South, telling MSNBC earlier Sunday that he believes the vice president will take Georgia.

“She’s rapidly united the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, sees the momentum in this head-to-head race against former President Trump, and she's electrifying volunteers and grassroots Democrats across the country,” he continued. “She's put Georgia in play.”

Harris has significantly outperformed Biden in polling among young people, Black voters and Hispanic voters, key demographics that could decide swing states like Georgia and Arizona.

Democrats have quickly coalesced around Harris, with her campaign already gathering enough committed delegates to effectively lock up the party’s nomination. No other candidate has challenged Harris for the nomination, and her campaign has broken numerous fundraising records as it attempts to make up for a late start.

Polling has shown Harris improving over Biden’s figures against Trump, though now all attention is on who her own vice presidential candidate will be.