The defining moment: Harris will team up with Barack and Michelle Obama in key battlegrounds next week

As the 2024 presidential campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump heads into the home stretch, Harris will face off next week with arguably the country’s two most popular Democrats.

The Harris campaign announced Friday that the vice president will join former President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, in voting events in two of the seven crucial battleground states – Georgia and Michigan.

According to the campaign, Harris will meet with the Obamas in Georgia on Thursday, Oct. 24. Early voting began earlier this week in the key battleground in the southeast and immediately set a new record.

Harris aides also said the vice president would work again on the campaign trail in Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 26, the day early voting begins nationwide in the crucial Great Lakes battleground.

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This will be the first time Harris has worked with Obama on the campaign trail since she replaced President Biden in the 2024 Democratic top spot nearly three months ago.

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The Obamas – longtime friends of Harris – formally endorsed her for president in July, five days after Biden’s groundbreaking announcement that he would abandon his re-election bid and support his running mate.

The former president and first lady made the case for Harris in back-to-back headlining speeches at the Democratic National Convention in August in her hometown of Chicago.

Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally in support of Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 10, 2024. REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki (REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki)

And the former president campaigned for Harris a week ago in Pennsylvania – arguably the most important of all seven battleground states that will likely decide the outcome of the presidential election.

The former president is scheduled to return to the campaign trail in the coming days, making stops in Tucson, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada, Detroit, Michigan and Madison, Wisconsin.

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With a razor-thin race for the White House, both Harris and Trump are struggling to win over and mobilize voters as early in-person, mail-in and absentee voting is now underway in around 40 states across the country.

The Harris campaign’s goal is to use these campaign events to increase voter enthusiasm among the vice president’s supporters to vote before Election Day on November 5 and to increase volunteer engagement to increase voter turnout.

(Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, such as military members or people with medical conditions. Many states expanded voting eligibility in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in person.

This year, the Fox News voter analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in person and 41% voting by mail.

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Early voting remained popular in the intermediate examswith 57% of voters casting their ballots before Election Day.

Kellianne Jones and Rémy Numa of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates on the 2024 election, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital Election Center.