Harris campaign zeroes in on 'blue wall' as best path to victory

The Harris campaign late Tuesday predicted the state of the presidential race would come into focus in "the early morning hours” as it offered cause for optimism about the vice president’s path in the “blue wall” states.

“We’ve been saying for weeks that this race might not be called tonight,” Harris campaign Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a memo obtained by The Hill.

“Those of you who were around in 2020 know this well: It takes time for all the votes to be counted — and all the votes will be counted. That’s how our system works,” she continued. “What we do know is this race is not going to come into focus until the early morning hours.”

Decision Desk HQ has called the battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina for former President Trump, meaning Harris’s path to victory lies in sweeping the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. With results still trickling in from each state, O’Malley Dillon outlined reasons the campaign is still optimistic about its chances.

The campaign is awaiting Election Day results from Philadelphia, O’Malley Dillon wrote, but they expected higher turnout in the city than in 2020. Outside of Philadelphia, she said the campaign has limited data on turnout and expects more data in the coming hours.

In Michigan, the campaign said it saw strong turnout in Detroit, but that other results were “harder to parse.”

And the campaign said it was seeing “signs of strong performance” in key Wisconsin counties, but that complete results in the Badger State were not expected until early Wednesday morning between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

“We’ll continue to keep you all updated as we get more information,” O'Malley Dillon wrote. “This is what we’ve been built for, so let’s finish up what we have in front of us tonight, get some sleep, and get ready to close out strong tomorrow.”