OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris has gone sixty days without hosting a formal news conference since officially becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
After weeks of refusing to participate in a meaningful interview, Harris ultimately gave in to pressure last month in Georgia and agreed to a pre-recorded interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, which was far different from a usual news conference. Running mate Tim Walz also joined Harris. Since then, she has had further interviews, one of which was with the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday.
Last week, Trump held his third news conference in California since the start of August. He used the occasion to criticize his opponent’s home state and to discuss a variety of issues, such as crime, immigration, and inflation, Fox News reported.
In addition to participating in two prerecorded radio interviews last week, Harris made her debut on television as the Democratic nominee on Friday in Philadelphia. On Monday, she participated in a radio interview that was broadcast on Tuesday.
Regarding the date of her official news conference, it might never happen, at least not while she’s still running for office.
Jorge Bonilla, the host of Conservative Radio Libre, believes Harris needs to hold a press conference but claims it’s almost “irrelevant” because she keeps getting away with things.
“She is highly unlikely to do a press conference because the media have enabled and encouraged her ‘plexiglass basement’ strategy, wherein she preserves the illusion of being out there while remaining wholly inaccessible to the press and therefore unaccountable,” Bonilla told Fox News Digital.
This comes as Harris’ campaign got some bad news this week in a crucial swing state.
Democrats in Pennsylvania are confronted with a sobering reality, as recent data indicates a sharp drop in requests for mail-in ballots, which could endanger Kamala Harris’s prospects in this crucial state.
Republicans are down by 55,033 mail-in requests compared to 2020, while Democrats are reportedly down an astounding 303,016 requests.
Trump lost Pennsylvania by just 80,000 votes in 2020 and many believe the Keystone State could determine who wins the presidential race.
The data shows an alarming disparity: Democrats had 1,101,962 mail-in ballot requests at this point in 2020, compared to 798,946 in 2024.
Republicans, on the other side, currently have 321,077 requests, down from 376,956 in 2020. The figures show that Trump is gaining ground in a state that he must win.
Republican Cliff Maloney highlighted the significance of this change by writing on X that the decline in Democratic mail-in requests could be “suicidal for Kamala.”
📢 PENNSYLVANIA DATA DROP ‼️
Mail-in ballot requests R vs D
2020 (50 days out)
GOP: 376,956
Dem: 1,101,9622024 (50 days out)
GOP: 321,077
Dem: 798,946KAMALA IS DOWN 303,016 requests compared to 2020.
Dems are shaking in their crocs!!!
— Cliff Maloney (@Maloney) September 17, 2024
Pennsylvania was a crucial swing state in each of the previous two presidential elections.
In 2016, Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by a slim margin, securing the state’s 20 electoral votes with approximately 44,000 more votes than Hillary Clinton.
In 2020, Joe Biden flipped the state back to blue, defeating Trump by around 80,000 votes.
This comes as Trump looks to have made impressive gains over Kamala Harris, gaining roughly 14 points among independents and 19 points among Latino voters.
According to new polling from NPR/PBS News/Marist, Trump has surpassed Harris by three points among independents in a multi-candidate race, 49% to 46%. This represents a considerable increase since August, when Trump trailed Harris, 59, by 11 points, 48% to 37%.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had received 12% of the vote in the previous survey, withdrew from the contest and endorsed Trump in the interim between the August and September polls. Furthermore, Harris’s “honeymoon” following her sudden ascent to the nomination has started to level out.
In August, Trump led Harris by fifteen points, 54% to 39%, among Latino voters; by now, Trump leads by four points, with 51% of the vote to Harris’s 47%.
“When Trump and Harris square off in Philadelphia, the stakes are sky-high because the contest is so close,” Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, explained.
“Only single digits separate the candidates on most issues important to voters. But voters who value honesty are overwhelmingly for Harris, and voters looking for strong leadership are mostly in Trump’s corner. Will this still be the case on Wednesday morning?”
According to the poll, almost 70% of Americans said they would watch the debate, and 30% of registered voters think it would influence their decision on who to support. However, 69% of respondents say it probably won’t be beneficial.
