Harris to travel to Texas as Democrats hope to flip Senate seat

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will travel to Texas on Friday for an abortion-rights event as Democrats’ hopes rise they can win a Senate seat in the Republican stronghold, according to a senior Harris campaign official.

Republican Donald Trump holds a comfortable lead on Vice President Harris in Texas, which has not voted for a Democratic president since 1976. This makes the trip a notable departure from the seven key battleground states for the Democrat in the final two weeks of the race for the White House.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz still holds a comfortable lead over the Democratic nominee for his seat, U.S. Representative Colin Allred, most polls show, and Democrats face an uphill battle to retain control of Congress’ upper chamber.

In Houston, Harris will appear with Allred and criticize both Cruz and Trump on abortion rights in a state that has a near-total abortion ban, the Harris campaign official said. Harris will also participate in an interview with the podcaster Brene Brown during the trip.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and Chizu Nomiyama)