HINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, dropped in on a high school band practice Wednesday as part of a two-day bus tour through southeast Georgia campaigning for the critical battleground state, as the students performed their school fight song for the Democratic ticket.
“We’re so proud of you and we’re counting on you," Harris told the young crowd at Liberty County High School, some shrieking with excitement at the sight of the vice president. "Your generation ..
. is what is going to propel our country into the next era of what we can do and what we can be.” Harris told the students that she too played in the band — French horn, xylophone and kettle drums — and while not every note they play will be perfect, “all that practice makes for beautiful music.
” The trip culminates Thursday with a rally in Savannah. Campaign officials believe that in order to win the state over Republican Donald Trump in November they must make inroads in GOP strongholds. They need more than Atlanta and the suburbs that delivered for Joe Biden in 2020.
Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said bus tours offer an "opportunity to get to places we don’t usually go (and) make sure we’re competing in all communities.” The campaign wants the events to motivate voters in GOP-leaning areas who don’t traditionally see the candidates, and hopes that the engagements drive viral moments that cut through crowd.