A prominent longtime Democrat strategist warns that positive election vibes among party members due to Vice President Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden atop the national ticket are due to "irrational exuberance."
David Axelrod, chief campaign strategist for former President Barack Obama, says the presidential race between Harris and former President Donald Trump remains "Trump's race to lose."
"There's a lot of irrational exuberance on the Democratic side of the aisle right now because there was despair for some period of time about what November was going to look like," Axelrod said on CNN.
"Now people feel like there's a chance."
Still, Axelrod says Democrats should not think replacing Biden has guaranteed a November victory.
"It is absolutely Trump's race to lose right now," Axelrod said. "He is ahead and he is ahead in most of the battleground states. They're close, they can be won by either candidate. But there is a lot to be determined in the next 90-whatever days – 96 or what it is left.
"So yeah, I think it's a wide-open race, but Trump has the advantage right now and nobody should … nobody should be, nobody should be … everybody should be sober about that on the Democratic side."
Biden announced July 21 that he was ending his reelection bid.
The vice president, who became the official Democrat nominee in a virtual roll call vote last week, is expected to accept the nomination formally during the Democratic Party's Aug 19-22 convention in Chicago.
Axelrod was among top Democrats urging Biden to leave the presidential race. Last week, he warned that Trump remains a "pretty substantial favorite" over the vice president, The Hill reported.
Harris this weekend is preparing to announce her own vice presidential pick before a Tuesday campaign event.
RealClearPolling on Sunday showed Trump holding a slim lead over Harris nationally but an average of a 4.4 percentage point lead in seven key battleground states.