By Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax
(Reuters) – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he will hold a news conference on Thursday afternoon at his residence in Palm Beach, Florida, his first public appearance since his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Trump did not say whether the 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) session would focus on a particular subject, nor did he confirm that he would take questions from reporters. But the event could shift media attention back to the former president after Harris has dominated headlines in recent days.
Harris, the U.S. vice president, and Walz headlined rallies in the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday, drawing tens of thousands of attendees in a fresh sign of how her late entry into the race has galvanized Democrats.
Her rapid rise, following President Joe Biden’s decision last month to abandon his faltering campaign, has sent Trump’s team scrambling to recalibrate their strategy and messaging. Opinion polls show Harris has erased the lead Trump had built over Biden, and Democrats have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from voters and big donors in a matter of weeks.
Harris and Walz were scheduled to meet with auto workers in Detroit on Thursday, following the United Auto Workers union’s endorsement of their candidacy, as part of a push to mobilize blue-collar workers in key battleground states.
The campaign canceled events on Thursday in North Carolina and on Friday in Georgia, where Tropical Storm Debby is bringing heavy rain and dangerous flooding. The Democrats will head to Arizona and Nevada later this week, visiting two more swing states likely to play a key role in the Nov. 5 election.
Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, also canceled campaign events in North Carolina on Thursday due to the storm. He has spent the last few days trailing Harris and Walz around the country, an unusual move intended to provide a “contrast,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The Trump campaign has criticized Harris for not taking questions from reporters since launching her campaign 2-1/2 weeks ago.
Trump has conducted a steady stream of media interviews, though they are usually with friendly, right-leaning outlets and reporters. On Wednesday, he called into the “Fox & Friends” morning program and took questions from the program’s hosts.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne, Trevor Hunnicutt and Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis)
