CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is focusing on red and rural counties in the final rush to Election Day, according to campaign officials, with her appearance in Ripon, Wisconsin, on Thursday just part of a strategy to compete everywhere and expand the margins of Donald Trump in those areas. provinces.

“We obviously have to bring out people from Democratic bases, but we also have to convince a lot of people,” Dan Kanninen, director of the Harris campaign, told CNN. “Shaving margins where you can, in counties where Trump may have won 70-30, but if we can lose them 60-40 or 65-35, that makes a big difference across dozens of counties in a state.”

Part of organizing the campaign on the ground includes having a larger presence in counties where there may be fewer Democrats and more disaffected Republican voters.

The campaign plans to hold events in the coming days aimed at appealing to voters disenchanted with Trump, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Harris campaign officials have repeatedly touted Republican endorsements and support, including this week when the vice president appeared alongside former Rep. Liz Cheney, marking their first joint appearance since the Wyoming Republican announced she would vote for Harris.

But where they chose to appear together may have had more weight: Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party. Fond du Lac County, which includes Ripon, voted for Trump 62%-36% in 2020.

Harris campaign officials are counting on their campaign infrastructure — including multiple field offices, along with campaign stops by the vice president and running mate Tim Walz, among others — to help close the gap between her and Trump, especially in battleground states.

“We have 16 offices in counties that Trump won by double digits because we don’t take any place for granted,” Brendan McPhillips, Harris’ senior campaign adviser for Pennsylvania, told CNN.

“If you win five votes, five more votes in a county that Trump won by double digits, that’s the same as the five votes you win in Philadelphia,” he added. “But you have to go everywhere to get them, and it’s important for people to come into their community and have an honest conversation and go back and forth.”

That includes areas like Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had a 20% turnout in the Republican primary despite no longer running in the 2024 race, and where strategists say the Harris campaign could potentially pick up disinterested Republican voters. at Trump.

Harris may not be able to appeal to all Haley voters, but capitalizing on the doubt that might exist in some of these counties about Trump and gaining even a portion of those votes could be significant to narrow margins, said Sam Chen, a Republican. strategist.

“This is a smart move, but it’s a risky move if they don’t like you and if it accidentally drives them to Trump,” Chen said. “Here you have to know your message.”

Walz, who previously campaigned in Lancaster County, began a bus tour of central Pennsylvania this week after the vice presidential debate. Similarly, Harris returned last month to two counties — Cambria and Luzerne — that Trump won by double digits in 2020.

Democratic strategists have also cited that Walz’s upbringing in rural America, his military background and his days as a football coach are especially recognizable in rural parts of the country.

The campaign is also running ads targeting rural voters, including one featuring lifelong Republicans who said they previously voted for Trump but chose to vote for Harris, and another with a Wisconsin farmer talking about health care talk.

Harris aides point to past Democratic campaigns as evidence of the strategy’s workings, including Sen. John Fetterman’s 2022 race in Pennsylvania and Sen. Raphael Warnock’s runoff in Georgia.

In late August, Harris toured southeast Georgia, a region that typically leans Republican but where Warnock had success.

At the time, Harris’ deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, who managed Warnock’s campaign, argued that Harris, like Warnock, has an advantage in appealing to broader groups of voters, including those in rural areas, heading into November, with Trump as her opponent. and expected higher turnout in a presidential election year.