Hello from Washington,
I’m writing this from Reagan National Airport as I wait to board a plane to Georgia, the Deep South state that helped propel US President Joe Biden to victory four years ago.
Until Donald Trump narrowly lost Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes at the 2020 election, it had been one of the safest Republican strongholds in the country, with no Democratic presidential candidate securing victory there since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets supporters on arrival at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Savannah, Georgia.Credit: AP
Kamala Harris is now hoping the so-called Peach State also swings her way. She is embarking on a two-day bus tour through urban, rural and suburban communities with her running mate, Tim Walz, a trip that will culminate in a rally in the historic coastal city of Savannah on Thursday evening (Friday AEST).
That Harris and Walz are heading to Georgia for their first burst of campaigning since last week’s Democratic National Convention says a lot about how much the race for the White House has changed since Biden suspended his campaign for re-election last month.
Until then, most of the Democratic insiders I spoke to conceded that the “sun belt” – the fast-growing and diverse states of Georgia, Arizona, Nevada........