LEILA FADEL, HOST:
It's not just President Trump barnstorming key states in the closing days of the midterms.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah. Democrats have several high-profile surrogates hitting the campaign trail as well. One example - former President Barack Obama will be in Ohio and Michigan this week and Georgia next week.
FADEL: And today, former Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Mississippi in what has become another surprisingly competitive Senate race. NPR's Stephen Fowler is following all this and joins me now. Good morning, Stephen.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: So you've been tracking all this travel. Where are Democrats going?
FOWLER: You know, since there's not really a quote-unquote leader of the Democratic Party right now, it's a little bit everything, everywhere, everyone all at once. In the midterm cycle, Democrats are on offense. So there are a lot of people sitting in safer blue states and sort of purple states that are now safe that are being deployed to the competitive toss-up races and into deep-red territory where it makes sense, and a lot of people seeking out their ideological compatriots.
For example, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez going to Michigan for Abdul El-Sayed. You've got the independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for candidates in Maine, Florida and Texas. And of course, the big one - former President Obama going to final pushes in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia. He's cut campaign ads for many, many more candidates. And as we've seen in previous cycles, he is the go-to get-out-the-vote closer.
FADEL: Now, Obama obviously can't run again, but others can. So how much of this is about potential 2028 presidential candidates laying some groundwork right now?
FOWLER: We are certainly seeing a shadow primary of sorts with this - I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine, and maybe vote for me in 2028 - undertone, especially here in the South. To me, it's worth pointing out all of this is happening for Democrats against a backdrop of a huge surge in Black voter turnout during early voting so far. Today alone, you've got New Jersey Senator Cory Booker in Alabama, former DNC chair Jaime Harrison in Arkansas and, of course, former Vice President Harris in Mississippi. I'm heading there to cover her rally for Senate nominee Scott Colom. He's seeking to be the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction.
There have been plenty of pilgrimages to the places, the New Hampshires and the Nevadas of the primary calendar. But 2028 starts for Democrats in South Carolina, and there have been a ton of people sending millions of dollars and making a campaign splash across the South.
FADEL: Let's talk about Mississippi a little more because Trump just announced he will hold a rally there Monday, in a state he won by more than 20 points in 2024. What's the story there?
FOWLER: It's just the latest in a series of deep-red areas where polls show the bottom could fall out for Republicans in the next few weeks, like Kansas was before it, and even Iowa, Ohio and Texas before that this cycle. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent senator, has performed worse than Trump. Colom is a strong, moderate Black candidate in a state with the highest share of Black voters in the country. But it's also super racially polarized, meaning that white voters don't typically support Democrats.
It's also just as likely that Mississippi and some of these other final Trump campaign stops could stay Republican, and the president gets to visit with friendly crowds and tout the wins because of his involvement in what otherwise might not necessarily turn out to be a good year for him politically.
FADEL: That's NPR's Stephen Fowler on his way to Mississippi. Thank you, Stephen.
FOWLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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