November election ‘is going to be a close race’: Sen. Tom Cotton

Written by ABC AUDIO on August 25, 2024

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, an ally of Donald Trump, said the presidential race will be a close one and the former president will put in the work to win in November.

When pressed by “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on whether or not Trump has to pivot his messaging to focus more on Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies, Cotton replied that Trump’s “campaign has known all along, and they’ve said all along that this race is going to be a close race,” though Trump himself has also predicted a wide margin of victory for himself.

“We know the race will probably come down to a few hundred thousand votes in a few states. President Trump has been campaigning hard and vigorously now for months. Obviously, that’s going to increase in its pace as we get closer to the election, and President Trump is going to draw a sharp contrast with Kamala Harris,” Cotton said.

Cotton’s remarks come as Republicans urge Trump to focus more on his messaging. While he has consistently noted voters’ frustrations on inflation and immigration, he has also thrown personal jabs that some in his party consider distractions, including saying he’s better looking than Harris.

The lack of messaging discipline comes as polling shows Harris significantly improving on President Joe Biden’s standing nationally and in key swing states. 538’s national polling average now shows Harris up by 3.6 points nationally.

Republicans are also frustrated by what they claim is a lack of policy transparency by Harris.

The vice president recently released details of her economic plan, including fighting price gouging and expanding assistance for new parents and first-time homebuyers. She has not said much else, aside from disavowing policies she proposed in 2020 like banning fracking.

“[S]he’s taking these efforts not to change her positions, but to hide her positions. Jon, the American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done the last four years,” Cotton said.

“If she has changed her position, she owes it to the American people to come out and say to her own words when she changed and why she changed,” he added.

Cotton also dismissed any momentum Harris could have coming out of the Democrats’ convention in Chicago, which included several Republican supporters who cast Trump as a threat to democracy.

“Well, in every election Jon, you have some members of one party endorsing the candidate of the other party. That’s a very traditional aspect of American politics,” Cotton said. “I mean, look at what just happened this week. The Democratic Party under Kamala Harris has gone so far to the left that you actually had a Kennedy endorse a Republican,” Cotton said, referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent endorsement of Trump.