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Washington, DC, US
Former president Barack Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, warned on Sunday (Nov. 3) that early voting numbers are a "little scary" for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Messina, in an interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” said that the Republicans are voting early at rates higher than they have historically, which could further change what the vote breakdown looks like when early returns come in on election night.
“Early vote numbers are a little scary,” Messina told Psaki.
Messina has worked in both administrations of Obama and President Joe Biden, before becoming a host on MSNBC.
“Republicans didn’t do what they did last time. Last time, Trump said, ‘Don’t early vote.’ And so they didn’t. Republicans do have an advantage in early vote numbers. When the early vote comes in, it’s going to look a little bit different than 2020, and that’s scary,” he said.
However, he added that Harris is holding strong in the last leg of the campaign and he is optimistic about the voting turnout for Harris among young voters and women.
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“But when you kind of dig into the numbers, the numbers that I care the most about are two blocs: women voters and young voters, and those two voting blocs are coming big, Jen. Women voters make up 55 percent of the early voters, and in the past 10 days, young voters in these battleground states are coming out — in what looks to be, for an early vote, historic numbers — and that makes the Harris campaign very, very happy,” Messina said.
“But when you look at some of the early vote numbers, it has led lots of your friends and my friends to call me panicking,” he added. “And I do think it is true: The Republicans have done a better job than they did last time on early vote.”
(With inputs from agencies)