Harris to travel to Texas Friday after polls show tie between Trump, Biden

Vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is slated to travel to Texas on Friday as recent polls have shown former Vice President Joe Biden closing in on President Trump in the Lone Star State.

The Cook Political Report, an election handicapper, moved the presidential race in Texas from “lean Republican” to “toss up” on Wednesday.

In addition, a poll released Thursday by UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion showed Trump and Biden statistically tied in the state, with Trump garnering 48 percent support and Biden garnering 47 percent support.

The president won Texas against Hillary Clinton in 2016 by about 800,000 votes. 

The California senator will travel to Fort Worth, McAllen and Houston in a final push to flip the historically red state four days before Election Day, according to a press release from the campaign. 

Harris will participate in voter mobilization event with former secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) in McAllen during the day.  

She is also slated to attend voter mobilization events in Fort Worth and Houston later on Friday.

Fort Worth’s Tarrant County was the state’s most populous county that Trump won in 2016, though Republican Sen. Ted Cruz narrowly won in Tarrant during his 2018 reelection bid against O’Rourke. 

Biden’s campaign is eyeing Houston’s Harris County for a potential victory, which has become more Democratic in recent years and has already cast 1.1 million early ballots, the Texas Tribune reported.

Harris’s deployment to the state is the latest sign that the Biden campaign believes the state is in play for Democrats with less than a week to go before Nov. 3. 

Abhi Rahman, communications director for the Texas Democratic Party, said, “Harris visiting this close to the election is a game-changer and exactly what Texas Democrats need to get us over the top,” local NBC affiliate KXAN reported.