Amid Democratic concerns about a presidential race that remains deadlocked in the key battlegrounds, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign dispatched a handful of seasoned political operatives to troubleshoot in swing states in recent weeks, according to six people familiar with the surge.
The group of senior advisers includes Paulette Aniskoff, a former director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under then-President Barack Obama who was sent into Pennsylvania two weeks ago to shore up what officials thought was a lackluster state operation. One of the sources described the Keystone State as a “problem spot” for the Harris campaign.
The moves come at a time when Harris’ race against former President Donald Trump has settled into trench warfare in seven states. In the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls in those states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada — neither candidate has more than a one-point lead in any of the battlegrounds.
“Everyone is very nervous — both our camp and the Trump camp,” said one of the people familiar with the surge to states who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Eric Hyers, who managed Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s winning campaigns and ran Michigan operations for Joe Biden in 2020, has been charged with providing counsel in North Carolina.
Michael Halle, the longtime top adviser to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Nick Rathod, political and coalitions senior adviser for the Harris campaign, are providing assists in Georgia.
Marlon Marshall, a veteran of the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns, has been tasked with keeping tabs on Nevada and Arizona.
And Chris Wyant, a Midwest native who also worked on those presidential campaigns, is now helping Harris in Michigan.
These advisers are heavy hitters, having held some of the highest-level positions in previous presidential campaigns. But the Harris campaign insists the additions are not part of any kind of shakeup.
“In every campaign I’ve ever been a part of, you have a lot of folks that can come in at the end to add late help and expertise to states,” Dan Kanninen, the Harris campaign’s battleground director, said in an interview with NBC News. “Sometimes you get folks who are former ambassadors collating packets for [get-out-the-vote efforts]. Sometimes you get folks who are serious operatives who can lend a few weeks at the end to sharpen your operations and everything in between.”
There’s “a lot of late help coming in, as you’d expect,” Kanninen said. “It’s wonderful because the capacity is really needed to make sure we can do all the things that we need to do in battleground states.”
Democratic presidential campaigns have tapped such senior advisers to oversee or troubleshoot in specific states in past elections. In 2016, Clinton’s campaign called the set of high-level operatives “traveling ubers.”
