Kamala Harris' presidential campaign and national Democrats are privately bracing for the possibility that she won't carry the Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan in next month's election, with concerns mounting in Michigan in particular, NBC News reported Tuesday.
Further, Harris' campaign sees battleground North Carolina "slipping away," a loss that would complicate her path to 270 electoral votes if she loses one of the Blue Wall states, according to the report.
The trio of Blue Wall states have voted in unison in every election since 1988, when Democrat presidential nominee Michael Dukakis won Wisconsin but lost Pennsylvania and Michigan in his blowout loss to President George H.W. Bush.
However, "There has been a thought that maybe Michigan or Wisconsin will fall off," NBC News quoted a senior Harris campaign official, adding that Michigan is the greater concern.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a Democrat Senate hopeful, said last month that Harris was underwater in Michigan.
At issue for Harris in Michigan is the large Arab and Muslim population that has been highly critical of the Biden-Harris administration over its handling of the war in Gaza and what they see as the administration's outright support of Israel and not demanding a cease-fire.
The Abandon Harris movement, which began as Abandon Biden, endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Uncommitted National Movement has said it won't endorse Harris but has warned against the peril of backing a third-party candidate, like Stein, saying it could help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom they also oppose.
A loss in Michigan would require Harris to win another battleground or two to reach 270. And if North Carolina is "slipping away," that would mean having to secure razor-thin wins in Nevada, Georgia, and/or Arizona, according to the report.
"I don't see a blue wall path or a Sun Belt path or a Southern path. I see seven states that are as close as it gets that will all be decided by margins on the ground," Harris battleground state director Dan Kanninen said, according to NBC News. "And, truthfully, one of the seven has as good a chance as any other to be the tipping-point state."