Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, U.S. Vice President, speaks during a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, September 29, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Harris campaign surrogates plan to make a series of visits with small businesses in at least six battleground states this week, according to a preview of the announcement first obtained by CNBC on Tuesday.
Harris herself will not attend these specific events. The campaign said “elected officials” and “community leaders” would take her place, but did not specify who the agents would be.
this Activity Tour called “Harris Waltz’s Small Business” is in part an effort to attract black people and Latino Neighborhoods, key voter demographics that were crucial to Democrats’ victory in 2020, have begun to shift in support of Republican nominee Donald Trump this election cycle.
Trump has been trying to capitalize on the momentum.
“If you’re black or Hispanic, thank you very much, vote for Trump. You’ll be in good shape,” he said at a rally in Georgia last Tuesday.
This week’s tour of small businesses is the latest effort by the Harris campaign to stem Trump’s gains.
President Joe Biden, who was expected to be the Democratic presidential nominee before dropping out of the race in July, adopted a similar strategy.
In December, for example, he touted the achievements of Black- and Latino-owned small businesses under his administration as a way to highlight his efforts to close the racial wealth gap and win back voters who were nostalgic for the pre-pandemic economy. effort.
Harris has adopted this argument in her own campaign, working to draw a similar contrast with her Republican opponents.
“Vice President Harris has proven that she will be a champion for small businesses,” Richard Garcia, director of small business engagement for the Harris campaign, wrote in a statement Tuesday. “Unlike Donald Trump, he only fights for himself.”
Next week, the Harris campaign will expand the outreach specifically to small businesses in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The event plans to host a variety of organizational events, volunteer trainings and family gatherings.
So far, Harris has proposed a $50,000 tax break for small business start-up expenses, a tenfold increase from the current $5,000 break. She would also impose a 28% tax on long-term capital gains, a rate lower than Biden’s 40% tax proposal, to reward “investment in American innovators, founders and small businesses.”
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