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Is Kamala Harris at ease on campaign trail? My two days with the VP.

At this vital stage in the 2024 campaign, the path to the U.S. presidency for Kamala Harris runs through places like Dottie鈥檚 Market, a trendy Savannah spot with baked goods, luxury food items, and braided sweetgrass baskets for sale.聽

On a late August bus tour to connect with voters, the vice president spoke to a rally of thousands and in a nationally televised interview. But she also tested her skill reaching voters on a more intimate scale.

We had a front-row view, as the Monitor provided the print reporter for the traveling press pool 鈥撀爐asked with sending regular updates to the wider press corps 鈥撀爋n this journey through southern Georgia. It鈥檚 a region that for decades has rarely been on the campaign-stop list for Democratic presidential nominees.

鈥淲here is your cookbook?鈥� Ms. Harris asked one of Dottie鈥檚 patrons, who has written a recipe book. 鈥淚鈥檓 gonna find it.鈥�

A known foodie, the vice president leaned over the counter to speak with a woman introduced as 鈥淎untie Dorothy,鈥� who mentioned Ms. Harris鈥� recent order at a fishery in Chicago. A Windy City native, the woman told Ms. Harris she should鈥檝e gotten the scallops. 鈥淎untie, I needed to see you before that trip,鈥� the VP responded, laughing.

On this two-day tour, Ms. Harris鈥� visits revolved around either food or young people, with whom she seems at ease, whether leaning over to chat with a child at a restaurant, taking a phone handed to her to talk to someone鈥檚 daughter, or telling a roomful of students she鈥檚 proud of them. When she entered the marching band practice room at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Georgia, musicians, cheerleaders, and football players erupted in audible gasps followed by cheers and applause.聽

Questions about Ms. Harris鈥� ease at mingling with the public 鈥� 鈥渞etail politics鈥� 鈥� have swirled around her campaign since she became the Democratic nominee.聽While questions about President Joe Biden鈥檚 energy and ability to campaign intensified before he dropped out, the president clearly loves the glad-handing aspect of politics, lingering and chatting with crowds.聽

Ms. Harris鈥� energy is youthful in comparison, and her rallies take on a different flavor, held in arenas that have often been packed with upward of 10,000 people. Indeed, just five weeks since President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Ms. Harris on July 21, the Harris campaign is still enjoying a honeymoon phase following the Democratic National Convention.

Packed into vans, the press trailed Ms. Harris鈥� bus in the motorcade as she stopped at a school, a barbecue joint, and a handful of other Savannah restaurants, many of them Black-owned, to greet voters and thank volunteers. These visits, where Ms. Harris chatted with students, business owners, and patrons, were unscripted 鈥� no teleprompter or notes in hand.

Democrats see a path to winning Georgia

The campaign鈥檚 choice to head to Georgia on its first big postconvention trip signals that advisers think the state is in play for Ms. Harris. In 2020, Mr. Biden won the battleground state by less than a quarter of a percentage point, or fewer than 12,000 votes. Ms. Harris now has a slight lead in the state over Republican nominee Donald Trump, according to .

When she landed in the Peach State (ready in 鈥渃ampaign casual,鈥� sporting her signature black Converse sneakers), Ms. Harris was greeted on the tarmac by students from Savannah State University, the oldest public historically Black college in the state.聽

From there, Ms. Harris鈥� bus, bright blue with a red stripe, stars, and the words 鈥淗arris Walz鈥� and 鈥淎 new way forward,鈥� headed to a high school nearly an hour outside the city, past small, one-story homes and trees draped in Spanish moss. Ultimately, the bus headed to a full-scale campaign rally.

Tonya Sherman, a training director who came to the Savannah rally, says she finds Ms. Harris to be relatable. 鈥淪he has a story like any regular person,鈥� says Ms. Sherman. 鈥淭hat makes me trust her.鈥�

And the vice president is not too scripted, says Ms. Sherman, adding that Ms. Harris lays out evidence and presents a case, true to her background as a prosecutor. Besides, the momentum of the campaign and the diverse crowd at the rally are propelling what is at the core of the Harris campaign, she adds.聽

鈥淩ight now, she is speaking through us,鈥� she says.聽聽

A recent聽聽found that 84% of voters say they have enough information about Ms. Harris鈥� policy positions and career to form a firm opinion.聽

Harris tacks toward the center in her first TV interview

Ms. Harris鈥� televised appearance, hosted by CNN in a Savannah caf茅, drew more viewers to the network鈥檚 9 p.m. programming than anything since Mr. Biden鈥檚 inauguration. The backdrop: hovering uncertainty about a candidate who didn鈥檛 sit for an interview until Thursday, Aug. 29, some 39 days after launching her campaign.

Though it was a joint interview alongside the vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Ms. Harris spoke for most of the 27 minutes. Both were measured in their answers and stuck to the center, a rebuttal to the Trump campaign鈥檚 attacks on the two as far-left figures. Ms. Harris spoke about middle-class economics and consensus-building, including the need to 鈥渇ind a common place of understanding of where we can actually solve problems.鈥� When asked if she would consider appointing a Republican to her Cabinet, the vice president said yes.聽

She stuck with Mr. Biden on Middle East policy, saying she wouldn鈥檛 change U.S. policy toward Israel, including with regard to supplying arms, adding, 鈥淲e have to get a deal done鈥� to end the war in Gaza.

And the vice president continues to avoid identity politics. When CNN鈥檚 Dana Bash asked for her reaction to former President Trump鈥檚 recent attacks on her racial identity,聽she said, 鈥淪ame old, tired playbook. Next question, please.鈥� Then she laughed.聽Ms. Harris has not emphasized the historic nature of her run as the first woman of color to be a major party nominee for president.聽

鈥淚 am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race and gender,鈥� she said.聽

The campaign鈥檚 aim: activating, not flipping, voters

In an election expected to be decided by razor-thin margins, turnout is key, and the Harris campaign is focused on activating voters, not on flipping Trump voters. Over recent decades, Black voters have 聽as a share of the electorate in Georgia. Ms. Harris carries 8 in 10 Black voters in the state, according to聽; that鈥檚 significantly more than Mr. Biden before he dropped out, but still below the support he won in the 2020 vote.

Ms. Harris seemed to be focused on a big-tent approach during the Georgia tour, highlighting economic issues and striking a welcoming tone to a wide range of voters.聽鈥淎men,鈥� someone yelled at the packed Savannah rally when Ms. Harris said people shouldn鈥檛 have to abandon their faith to oppose abortion bans.

鈥淟et鈥檚 not pay too much attention to the polls, because we are running as the underdog,鈥� she called to the crowd. She wrapped up with what鈥檚 become a signature line: 鈥淲hen we fight, we win!鈥�

Sophie Hills wrote this story after traveling to Savannah as part of the vice president鈥檚 press pool. Patrik Jonsson also reported in Savannah, attending the Harris rally.