By james art 
Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, said on MSNBC Sunday that the early voting numbers were “frightening” for the Harris campaign, as data showed Republicans making significant early voting gains in battleground states in compared to 2020
“The early vote numbers are a little scary,” Messina said on “Inside with Jen Psaki” when asked what the Harris campaign’s biggest concerns are in the days leading up to the election.
“The Republicans didn’t do what they did last time,” Messina added. “Last time Trump said no early voting, so they didn’t. Republicans do have an advantage in the number of early votes. When early voting comes around, it’s going to look a little bit different than 2020, and that’s scary.”
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But Messina said Democrats were pleased with the early turnout of two key voting blocs — women and young voters, the demographics Harris’ campaign is banking on.
“Women voters make up 55 percent of early voters, and over the past 10 days, young voters in these battleground states have been turning out in what appear to be historic early vote numbers,” he said.
Still, Messina added, the early voting results had many “of my friends calling me panicky” when comparing the numbers to 2020.
While early voting is traditionally favored by Democrats, both parties pushed voters to vote early in this election — and the emphasis on early voting had a seismic effect.
New numbers are out in Nevada, a key state showing historic early voting numbers for Republicans, who lead Democrats by about 5 percent in early voting that ended in person Friday. Early voting in the state ended with 393,811 votes cast for Republicans, 344,539 for Democrats and 287,762 for other affiliations, according to Secretary of State website.
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The roughly 49,000-vote lead Republicans had over Democrats at the end of the week is a stark contrast from 2020, when Democrats ended early voting with a 43,000-vote lead.
Some political pundits and politicians outside the Republican Party have also alarmed Nevada Democrats about the surge in GOP early voting.
“Republicans are kicking our ass with early voting,” Nevada Democratic congresswoman Dina Titus said during a Harris rally in North Las Vegas. “We can’t let that happen.”
c Georgia, Republicans seem confident that the state’s record early voting numbers will go in Trump’s favor. The former commander-in-chief lost Georgia by less than 1% in 2020, and Republicans have poured enormous time and resources into taking it back.
During the early voting period between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1, nearly 4 million Georgians voted in person or by absentee ballot, more than half of the state’s active voters. More than 700,000 people who voted as early as 2024 did not vote at all in 2020, according to Georgia votes. Meanwhile, the top three turnout districts are rural areas won by trump in 2020
A Trump campaign source told the New York Post Sunday that in four battleground states — Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania — “Democrats have more than 1.4 million voters who cast ballots before Election Day in 2020 or 2022, but they still haven’t voted and many of them haven’t even requested a postal vote,” the paper reported.
The Post cites early voting data from Arizona, reporting that mail-in returns and party registrations for early voting currently have Republicans up by 8 points. Based on the 2020 numbers, Republicans currently lead by 9 points, according to the publication.
Similarly, in Nevada, the Post shows Republicans ahead by one point in mail returns and party registration for early voting. Compared to 2020, the Republicans lead by 9 points, the publication reports.
“This appears to be the first time Republicans have won an early vote in North Carolina,” the Post wrote.
While Democrats lead early voting in Pennsylvania, Republicans are reportedly in a significantly better position than they were in 2020, according to the Post.
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