Harris is on a 2-day Georgia bus tour. It’s the latest sign the state is in play

Vice President Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are back on their campaign bus. The pair are together on the campaign trail for the first time since last week’s Democratic convention. This time, they’re heading out on a two-day bus tour of Georgia on Wednesday.

Their trip will take them into areas of the state that don’t always get attention from Democratic politicians. It will also be the site of Harris’ first major network interview since becoming her party’s nominee for president, on Thursday.

The attention this week is just the latest sign that Georgia, a state President Biden narrowly won in 2020, is once again in play this election year.

According to the campaign, Harris and Walz will start and finish their bus tour in Savannah, with stops in urban, rural and suburban communities, including areas with a lot of Black voters and working-class families.

“This area is a priority for the campaign: we have nearly 50 full-time staff across 7 offices in South Georgia,” said Porsha White, the Georgia state director for the Harris campaign. “This will be the first time a general election presidential candidate will have campaigned in Savannah since the 1990s.”

It’s part of a broader strategy to reach voters in traditionally Republican areas in swing states

Savannah — like most major cities — votes strongly Democratic. But it is swimming in a sea of red — and that’s where Harris and Walz will be campaigning.

“The whole point is to overperform,” said Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie. “And so you want to overperform not just among your base, but you also want to overperform in places where you have historically been weak.”

That means campaigning far from the Democratic strongholds of Atlanta,