CNN’s Van Jones expressed anxiety on Monday about Vice President Kamala Harris’ prospects against former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Trump currently holds a slim .3% lead over Harris in the crucial commonwealth, according to the RealClear Polling average. Jones, on “CNN News Central,” highlighted concerns about Philadelphia, Jewish voters and Harris’ campaign strategy as contributing factors to his unease.
“Well, I’m just nervous all the time. So I don’t feel good about nothin’ and I’m not gonna feel good about nothin’ ’til it’s over. I’m worried. Philadelphia is where we’ve gotta run up a big margin, but Philly overall has been trending down, not in terms of going toward the Republicans, just people not getting out to vote,” Jones said. “And so you got people out there like Pastor Carl Day, who’s got a bunch of young men with him knockin’ on doors, trying to get people to come out. It’s a bigger, tougher fight in Philly to get that vote count up than it has been in the past. That has me worried.”
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Twenty Pennsylvania Democratic elected officials, leaders and supporters expressed to Politico in October that Harris’ aides do not have connections with important individuals, especially in the Philadelphia region, suggesting her staff was falling short in efforts to mobilize nonwhite voters.
“The other thing that has me worried is that the Jewish vote in the suburban areas, [President Joe] Biden won the Jewish vote by 70%, 70-30 last time. Some polls show Kamala at 50-50. That is 70,000 votes we’ve bled away. That is the margin for victory,” Jones said. “So you got groups like Zioness, Amanda Berman out there fighting to get the Jewish vote back on board … It is door-to-door, bruised knuckles, tired legs, a lot of coffee and I’m nervous and worried and I’m not gonna be any way until this thing gets called.”
The Harris campaign is slated to hold two concerts in Pennsylvania on Monday in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, according to The Philadelphia Enquirer.
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“The other thing makes me nervous is in 2016 we had a big star-studded event right on the edge of the election and we lost the state. I don’t think people understand working people sometimes have to choose: Am I gonna go to the big cool concert this week and pay for babysitting for that or am I gonna try to figure out a way to get to the polls? I don’t like these big star-studded events,” Jones added. “I can’t show where they’ve helped us win. In fact, probably helped us lose last time. I don’t want people going to concerts. I want people knockin’ on doors, I want people out there fighting for this thing. I’m just nervous, nervous, nervous.”
Pennsylvania carries the most electoral votes of the top seven battleground states and 12 of the 15 past presidents secured their victories with assistance from the commonwealth. Newsmax political analyst Mark Halperin said Friday that Harris’ only viable path to an Electoral College victory is to sweep Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin due to trailing Trump in the Sun Belt swing states.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.