How Kamala Harris wins pink North Carolina: Donna Brazile

Political strategist Donna Brazile said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that she is convinced that Vice President Kamala Harris can win North Carolina, a key swing state that is increasingly turning pink, if she uses certain strategies in her campaign.

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos and Chris Christie, Brazile, a former interim DNC chair and former campaign manager, said North Carolina is “a difficult state that is turning bluer by the minute, maybe even pink,” and that Harris’ campaign can win it by appealing to rural voters and linking gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson to Donald Trump.

“The Democrats have an opportunity to go into eastern North Carolina, beyond Charlotte and Raleigh, the Triangle, and find those voters in the rural areas,” Brazile said. “If they can find those voters in the rural areas.”

She further said that Democrats should focus not only on winning voters in rural areas, but especially in the northern suburbs of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.

Newsweek contacted the Harris and Trump campaign teams via email outside of normal business hours for comment.

In North Carolina, Harris held rallies in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, according to Axios.

Brazile stressed the importance of another presidential debate: “She has to close this deal by talking about the economy. She has to close this deal with voters by making sure they understand what she’s going to do differently to help them in their daily lives.”

“If she can get that debate with Donald Trump and do an incredible job, I think that will help her win this race.”

Brazile’s comments follow the Harris campaign’s agreement to hold another presidential debate on October 23, hosted by CNN. The Trump campaign rejected this, saying it was “too late.” Newsweek previously reported.

Current polls in this key swing state suggest it will be a close race, with the two candidates having traded back and forth with narrow margins since August.

FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker shows that Trump has an average poll lead of 0.1 over Harris.

The gap between the candidates has continued to narrow since August and is now less than 1 percent in the polls. According to FiveThirtyEight, Harris was still 0.1 times ahead of Trump on September 18.

According to 270toWin, the last time a Democrat was elected in the swing state was in 2008, with Barack Obama, and in 1976 with Jimmy Carter.

Brazile concluded by noting that to win the presidency, Harris will need to reiterate her messages to key voters who could make the difference in states. She said, “Kamala Harris needs to talk to independents, she needs to make her team feel uncomfortable on the ground and knock on more doors.”

“Yes, there are a small number of people in certain states that need to be reached, and they don’t live in urban areas, they live in rural areas in the suburbs. It needs to go directly to them.”

Chris Christie also spoke about what he believes are the most important tactics in the race for the White House, saying that to win the presidency, Donald Trump must “go back to talking about two things and two things only – affordability and the border.”

The former New Jersey governor also said Trump should link the border to “people’s perception that law enforcement is a problem in this country,” as those are the two issues on which people think Harris is weakest.

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