Magaziner fears Dems are ‘overconfident’ about presidential race

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island Congressman Seth Magaziner has a message for his fellow Democrats: the upbeat energy that the Kamala Harris campaign has generated so far won’t be enough to win in November.

“Vibes don’t win elections,” Magaziner told 12 News. “Hard work wins elections.”

In an interview Tuesday, Magaziner said he’s growing increasingly worried as he fails to see local Democrats’ initial excitement about their new nominee translate into campaign activity that could help her defeat former President Donald Trump in critical battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

“There has definitely been a surge of enthusiasm since Kamala Harris became our nominee,” he said. “But I’m concerned that as of today, it’s not enough.”

“I am concerned that when President Biden made the decision to step aside and Kamala Harris became our nominee, people said, ‘Oh, that’s great, we’re on the path to victory,'” he said. “I think we can be on the path to victory, but we’ve got to put in the work.”

The freshman lawmaker described the state of the presidential race as “razor thin” — an analysis borne out by voter surveys.

An average of national polls by Nate Silver, a widely cited analyst, shows Harris leading Trump 48.9% to 45.5% as of Tuesday. But by Silver’s calculations, that actually makes Harris an underdog to win the presidency , because her lead isn’t big enough to overcome Trump’s advantage in the Electoral College.

Magaziner said his party should learn from recent history.

“I think that in 2016, Democrats were overconfident,” he said. “You know, Hillary Clinton was ahead in the polls; Donald Trump seemed like a flawed candidate. And there was an overconfidence that worked against us in 2016.”

He continued, “In 2020, Democrats had a great underdog mentality because Donald Trump was the incumbent. This time I am concerned that too many people are getting overconfident.”

Magaziner said he expects that next Tuesday’s televised debate between Harris and Trump is “going to matter a great deal,” and expressed confidence that the vice president will have a successful night. But he said he is more focused on what rank-and-file Democrats are doing — or not doing.

“What I’m not seeing yet is as much engagement in the form of door-knocking, phone-banking, volunteering today that there was for the Joe Biden campaign four years ago,” he said. People need to “get off the couch to volunteer and get involved,” he added.

Magaziner — who held a double-digit lead over Republican challenger Steven Corvi in his own reelection race at the start of the summer — said he plans to organize phone banks to encourage Rhode Island Democrats to get to work for the Harris campaign.

“We need to get engaged,” he said. “We need to get organized.”

Ted Nesi ( tnesi@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi’s Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter , Threads and Facebook .

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