Joe Biden’s campaign manager said Tuesday that the former vice president is prepared for “multiple pathways” to victory over President Trump this November as he continues to lead in national and swing state polling.
“I would say based on the stability of the race [and] the strong support the vice president has, that we maintain the same pathways and have seen an expanded footprint on states that are in play than we have seen in recent memory,” Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said in a livestreamed interview with Politico.
O’Malley Dillon pointed to Biden’s polling lead in swing states like Florida and the crucial Rust Belt battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, though she’s noted the race with Trump has tightened in recent months. She also said the campaign is “super bullish” on flipping Arizona, a historically Republican-friendly state that polls show is highly competitive this year.
O’Malley Dillon’s remarks come as polling shows Biden with leads in virtually every swing state as well as competitive contests in states that have traditionally been more Republican-leaning, including Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and even Texas.
Biden has also emerged as a fundraising powerhouse, raking in almost $365 million in August, compared with $210 million for Trump that same month, potentially narrowing a once-yawning money gap.
“[W]e feel very confident that we have an expanded map here, and multiple pathways to 270, and the resources to be able to execute on that strategy,” O’Malley Dillon said.
Still, Trump’s campaign has boasted that the president remains in a solid position to be reelected and expressed doubts that Biden will sweep the swing states.
“I’m asked all the time, how are you going to run the table in the Upper Midwest again? He just has to win one of three,” Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien said last month. “We have some cushion there.