NORTHAMPTON, N.H. – Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to the battleground state of New Hampshire on Wednesday for her 2024 campaign against former President Donald Trump, looking to further articulate her economic vision for the nation.
The vice president is scheduled to announce at an event at Throwback Brewery, a popular brewery and eatery on the New Hampshire coast, that she would propose a tenfold expansion of new small business tax credits and aim to get 25 million small business applications filed during Harris' first term in office.
But the visit to New Hampshire – a low-level battleground where Democrats have won five consecutive presidential elections but the race for the White House remains tight – is also seen as a chance for Harris to ease any remaining resentment over Democratic efforts to remove New Hampshire from its traditional role as the first in the nation to hold the presidential primary.
Harris' proposed plan would expand the current $5,000 start-up expense deduction for small businesses. [costs for such things as market surveys, ads, and training costs for workers that small businesses shell out before they even open] Up to $50,000.
What does Kamala Harris want to do about corporate taxes?
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The proposal would give new businesses more flexibility in deciding when they can claim the larger deductions, potentially resulting in greater benefits.
“The Vice President's plan will significantly expand help for Americans starting small businesses and cut unnecessary bureaucracy,” Harris' campaign said.
Harris and Trump have very different ideas about corporate taxes. The vice president proposed raising tax rates on large corporations to 28% from 21%, describing it as “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in working people's pockets and ensure that billionaires and corporations pay their fair share.”
The state could determine whether Harris or Trump wins the presidential election.
Her move is in line with President Biden, who proposed setting the corporate tax rate at 28% in his budget proposal in March. If implemented, it would represent a major rollback of the 2017 tax cuts, the nation's signature law passed during the Trump administration that slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
As he seeks to return to the White House, President Trump is calling for a cut in the corporate tax rate to 15%.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks during a rally at First Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)
Harris' visit to New Hampshire is her first since 2021 and comes in between trips she has made to seven key battleground states since taking over for Biden as the Democratic front-runner for the national election 6 1/2 weeks ago. [Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada] It will define the 2020 presidential election and likely determine the winner of the 2024 election.
New Hampshire remains a highly contested state in general elections, but it is the first time a Republican has won the state's four electoral votes in 24 years, since then-Texas Governor George W. Bush won the state in the 2000 presidential election.
Fox News Town Hall with Former President Trump hosted by Sean Hannity – Wednesday at 9pm ET
Trump narrowly lost New Hampshire to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton eight years ago, but lost the state to Biden by seven points four years ago.
Four years later, Biden was polling slightly ahead of Trump in New Hampshire before suffering a crushing defeat in a debate with his White House predecessor in late June, after which polls showed the race in New Hampshire within the margin of error.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
But Harris has been riding a wave of momentum and energy since replacing Biden, with the latest polls in New Hampshire showing her holding a single-digit lead over former President Biden.
“The vice president doesn't take any votes for granted and by coming to New Hampshire she wants to ensure that everyone hears her message and votes for her,” Ray Buckley, the longtime chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, told Fox News.
Ahead of Harris' visit, the Trump campaign “President Trump's campaign maintains an on-the-ground presence in New Hampshire, including staff and offices, but Kamala Harris has been deployed at short notice because she knows New Hampshire is a hot-button state.”
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In reality, the Harris campaign and the Democrats have 17 campaign offices across New Jersey and are enjoying a healthy, low-key advantage over the Trump campaign and Republicans in the state.
On the eve of VP Harris' visit, President Trump criticized her on social media, saying, “I see problems with VP Harris' campaign in New Hampshire because her team was not respectful during the primary and never showed up.”
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks with supporters, campaign staff and family members during a primary election night rally at the Sheraton in Nashua, New Hampshire, on January 23, 2024. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump also criticized Harris on New Hampshire's two biggest problems: inflation and home prices. “New Hampshire's cost of living is through the roof, our energy bills are the highest in the country and our housing market is the most unaffordable in history,” Trump argued.
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The former president's claim that Harris “disrespected” New Hampshire dates back to efforts by the Democratic National Committee in late 2022 and early last year to follow Biden's lead and remove New Hampshire from its traditional role as the first state in the nation to hold a presidential primary.
New Hampshire, in accordance with state law requiring it to hold its presidential primary first, did just that, meaning the state's January 23 nomination contest was not certified for Democrats.
A sign outside the New Hampshire state capital in Concord highlights the state's cherished status as the site of the first presidential primary for the past century. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Biden withdrew his name from the ballot and Harris avoided the state, but the president defied popular expectations and won the primary handily thanks to a coordinated write-in ballot effort by mainstream New Hampshire Democratic leaders.
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The president returned to New Hampshire in March after clinching the Democratic nomination, a visit seen in political circles as a conciliatory offer to New Hampshire residents.
Republicans maintained New Hampshire's leading position on the presidential nominating calendar.
Trump, who has not visited New Hampshire since winning the Republican primary on January 23, boasted in a social media post that “I protected and will always protect New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation Primary!”
Additionally, during an interview on “Good Morning New Hampshire with Jack Heath” on Wednesday morning, when asked if he would return to New Hampshire before Election Day, Trump responded, “Yeah, for sure. It's very dear to me.”
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