'Teasant race since 2000': Harris-Trump showdown enters final phase until Election Day

Saturday marks one month until voting day on November 5th.

As the presidential campaign enters its final stages, the race to determine the winner between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump remains close within the margin of error both nationally and in seven key battleground states.

Party chairmen in both countries are confident of their chances.

“We're on the offensive right now,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in an interview on Fox News Digital earlier this week. “I'm very happy with this map.”

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“This enthusiasm is good for our party,” his counterpart, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison, told reporters Friday.

However, Harrison emphasized, “I know this election will be a close one, and I will not take every vote for granted.''

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Since replacing President Biden as the top Democrat on the 2024 ticket in mid-July, Harris has been on a roll and her fundraising has skyrocketed. Ms. Harris and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) appear to have a significant advantage over Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) in all-important fundraising.

And it helped strengthen what Democrats already held a very impressive ground game organizational advantage over Republicans.

Vice President Kamala Harris waves during a campaign event on Friday, September 20, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We started laying the foundation well in advance of 2024 by investing in ground combat,” Harrison stressed. “We have been on the ground getting the message across since the early days of this campaign.”

The DNC chairman touted that there are “more than 312 coordinated offices across battleground states” and “more than 2,000 coordinated staff…doing hard work in the field.”

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But Mr. Whatley was unphased.

“Democrats have a ton of money. Democrats always have a ton of money,” Whatley said, noting that Trump was criticized in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.

“We have the resources we need to get our message out to our voters and to all voters. We feel very confident about our election plan,” the RNC chairman said.

Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump departs from a campaign event at Central Wisconsin Airport on September 7, 2024 in Mosinee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

And while the Harris campaign and its allies have outpaced President Trump and his allies in the ad war, Whatley pointed to the former president's ability to win over a free media.

“Donald Trump goes out every day and speaks to voters in a way that only he can. He can create news. He can go out and create social media hits. “Unlike politicians of our generation, we can communicate directly with American voters, so that's a huge advantage for us,” he said.

With four weeks left, Chris Anderson, a veteran Democratic pollster who ran the Fox News poll with longtime Republican pollster Daron Shaw, said: “My prediction for a plausible outcome.'' “These range from Trump's narrow Electoral College victory to Harris' slightly more comfortable victory.” . ”

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But while national polls show Harris holding a narrow 2-point lead, Shaw said, “The issues in this election continue to favor Trump.”

“This presidential election is shaping up to be one of the closest in history, and results are likely to be slow to come in,” said Wayne L'Esperance, a veteran political scientist and president of the University of New England.

Additionally, Matt Gorman, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, emphasized that “this is expected to be the closest race since 2000.''

“There will be no more discussion. There will be a news vacuum,” he said. “It's essential for the Trump campaign to fill that void with a message that puts Harris on the defensive.”

The two major party vice presidential candidates, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance (left) of Ohio, and Democratic Sen. Tim Governor Walz (Minnesota) York City. (Michelle Crowe/CBS via Getty Images)

Trump, like Biden, is a well-known figure.

But even though Harris has been in the spotlight for nearly two months, she is still not clearly defined.

Chris Moyer, a Democratic strategist and communicator, argued that “the more voters know about Vice President Harris, the more they like her.”

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“It is essential that she continues to get in front of voters in battleground states, and she will have the luxury of doing more in the final weeks,” he offered. “She should fill her schedule with a tour of key states, rallies, local interviews, and off-the-record productions that will generate shareable clips flying around on social media. It's been a near-perfect race so far, but many voters are still I want to know more about who she is, what she believes in, and what she plans to do as president.”

With a month left, there's always the possibility of an October surprise that could shake up the race for the White House.

Dennis Daggett, executive vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), speaks to picketers outside the APM Container Terminal at the Port of Newark on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. It struck for the first time in nearly 50 years on major ports on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, and quickly called off the strike. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A dockworker strike earlier this week shut down major ports and had the potential to wreak havoc on the country's supply chain. What could have been an October surprise was called off after just two days.

Hurricane Helen, which tore a path of destruction through the Southeast, also had an impact on the presidential election. There are also memories of Superstorm Sandy at the White House in 2012, which rocked the campaign between then-President Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

And the conflict between Israel, Iran and Hezbollah in the Middle East also threatens to overturn the election.

Even though Election Day is still a month away, it's important to note that early voting, absentee voting, and mail-in voting have already begun in more than 20 states.

Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital's Election Hub.