Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said he's confident Democrats can keep a majority in the Senate this November, if not expand the map.
WATCH LIVE: 2024 Democratic National Convention Night 1
In an interview with PBS News on Night 1 of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, credited enthusiasm around Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket for helping bring energy to down-ballot races, including competitive Senate seats. He said he thought Democrats could secure wins against Republican incumbents who aren't polling well in Texas and Florida. Peters also said the group has seen record fundraising after Harris joined the race.
"It's sometimes hard to get volunteers to go out and go out door knocking," he said. But in a recent canvas kickoff in his home state of Michigan, "we had a large crowd, lots of young people, and what really, really got me going was that over half of the young people that were there said it's the first time they ever worked on a campaign. …. When you get that kind of energy on the ground, that makes a huge difference."
Peters also commented on how Harris will address her position on the Israel-Hamas war, a leading issue for many Democrats, especially in Michigan, where more than 100,000 Democratic primary voters cast "uncommitted" ballots in protest of the Biden administration's support of Israel.
"Whatever her position is on that, she just needs to be herself. It may be the same as what we've been seeing out of the Biden-Harris administration. She may have some nuances. She's running for president. She's going to be the next president of the United States, in my opinion, but in order to win she needs to be true to who she is," he said.
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