Harris, Trump target swing states after fierce debate

WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump headed back on Thursday to battleground states set to decide the knife-edge US election, with the Democrat hoping to ride the momentum from her dominant display in their first presidential debate.

The vice president will hold back-to-back rallies in North Carolina while Trump is going to Arizona, two days after Harris forced the Republican former president onto the defensive in their first on-screen clash.

But it remains unclear whether Harris´s punchy performance, seen by 67 million viewers across the United States, will move the dial in a race that is still neck-and-neck with less than two months to go.

The Harris campaign said the 59-year-old was entering a “more aggressive” phase of her White House bid and was “seeking to capitalize on her decisive debate victory and build on momentum.”

It added that Harris would also engage more with the media -- she has only given one TV interview since President Joe Biden´s dramatic decision to drop out of the race in July.

Harris´s rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday will “double down on her message that the country should turn the page from Trump,” the campaign added.