The Harris campaign enjoyed the full shine of the media spotlight over the course of the Democratic National Convention, but former President Donald Trump might have the last word as the country steps into the weekend.
High with a flush of good news since the start of her whirlwind campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination Thursday evening with a speech rife with digs at her chief competitor.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris declared as she told attendees at Chicago’s United Center to consider the dangers of a second Trump term. “The consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious."
With the nation’s eyes on her, the vice president announced,” But America, we are not going back!”
Her high-profile remarks last night anticipated a Democratic victory on Election Day. However, some quieter news throughout the week, and a rumored drop-out from independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday, could change the dynamic of the presidential race and shift gears in Trump’s favor.
Even as Harris prepared to give her prime-time address to the country on the final night of the DNC, leading bookkeepers predicted Trump was the favorite to win the presidential election. Coming after weeks of polls where Harris has tightened the race and even opened thin leads in some states, the tidings came as good news for the Trump campaign. The RealClearPolitics average of recent polls still indicates Harris holds a narrow lead over Trump nationally.
Meanwhile, bad news about jobs data rolled out amid the Harris campaign's fight against Trump’s attacks that as President Biden’s No. 2., the vice president is partly responsible for economic concerns.
Both campaigns have made dueling messages about the economy centerpieces of their campaigns in recent weeks as voters rate inflation one of their top concerns this election cycle.
Harris unveiled key tenets of her economic agenda in North Carolina last week, with a focus on price controls, and tax hikes on the rich, later promising to support “a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.”
But federal data released Wednesday showed the labor market is weaker than previously reported, giving the Trump campaign fresh fodder to attack Biden’s second in command.
“The Harris Biden administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating job statistics to hide the true extent of the economic ruin that they've inflicted on America,” Trump pronounced in reaction to the Bureau of Labor Statistics move to revise job growth through March of this year down by 818,000.
While Trump held the jobs revision over Harris's head, the Kennedy campaign made a move that could hurt her presidential ambitions.
"We have processed withdrawal forms for RFK prior to the ballot printing deadline," Arizona Secretary of State spokesman JP Martin told ABC News Thursday evening. "No changes may be made to put the electors back on the ballot now."
Kennedy’s withdrawal from the battleground state’s November ballot marks the first tangible proof that he could be planning to end his presidential campaign.
Rumors have floated for days that Kennedy would drop his bid for the White House and join forces with Trump after the independent candidate’s running mate dished on their campaign’s behind-the-scenes strategy.
“There’s two options that we’re looking at, and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency because we draw more votes from Trump,” Nicole Shanahan said on Aug. 20. “Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump and explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”
Shanahan's words came after a private phone call between Trump and Kennedy that appeared to show alignment between the two men leaked last month. Earlier this week, Trump confirmed he would be “open” to giving the independent candidate a role in his administration should he win this November and told Fox News Thursday, "It’s possible we will be meeting tomorrow.”
Kennedy will address the nation at 2 p.m. Friday about “the present historical moment and his path forward,” according to a press release on his website.
Just hours after Kennedy is set to make his highly anticipated announcement, the Trump campaign has teased a special guest to join the former president at an Arizona event.
In a contest where the next occupant of the White House could win by a razor-thin margin, garnering votes from Kennedy supporters could be crucial to winning Trump a second term.
A slim Harris lead with Kennedy in the presidential race turned into a two-point deficit to Trump without the independent candidate in the picture, according to recent polling from the Wall Street Journal.
Larry Sharpe, an ally of Kennedy, said his supporters are more likely to support Trump than Harris. “There will be a higher percentage that will want to go to Trump, that’s for sure,” Sharpe, who directs outreach for American Values 2024, the super PAC that is backing Kennedy, told the outlet.
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The Harris campaign welcomed an endorsement from one of Kennedy's cousins, Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, who gave the vice president a rousing speech of support at the DNC this week. However, it has given RFK Jr. the cold shoulder.
In remarks to MSNBC Thursday, a senior Harris advisor said "Our message, frankly, isn’t for RFK," making it all the more likely Kennedy, and many of his supporters, will fall into the Trump camp should his rumored campaign exit come to fruition.
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