The race for the White House will reach a fever pitch this week, with Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump battling for momentum ¡ª and attention ¡ª around the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Harris spent Sunday on a bus tour through the battleground state of Pennsylvania, looking to grow the coalition that rallied around her candidacy after President Joe Biden upended the race a month ago by stepping aside. The president will headline Monday¡¯s proceedings in Chicago, kicking off a week that will see top party officials and celebrities laud the newly minted Democratic nominee.

Trump, for his part, is planning an aggressive schedule that will see him visit the U.S.-Mexico border, hold rallies in four key swing states, and sit for a series of interviews and press engagements. His aides described the push as an intentional effort to goad Harris into unscripted settings herself, in the hope that she could stumble ¡ª or revert back to the more liberal policy positions she espoused before joining Biden¡¯s 2020 campaign as his running mate.

The Republican needs to change the dynamic if he hopes to return to the White House. Harris held a 49% to 45% advantage in a Washington Post and ABC News poll released Sunday, rallying support from voters who had been disaffected by their choice between Biden and Trump.

As she toured Pennsylvania on Sunday, Harris looked to exploit that frustration, focusing her remarks on criticizing Trump.

¡°Anyone who is about beating down other people is a coward,¡± Harris told volunteers at a campaign office outside Pittsburgh.

Trump will seek to target Harris¡¯ vulnerabilities with events focused on the economy, immigration and crime. In the same poll that gave Harris an advantage nationwide, voters favored the Republican candidate on the economy by a nine-point margin.

¡°While Harris dodges questions from the press and tries to walk-back her extreme policies like the Green New Scam and bans on American energy, President Trump and Senator Vance will bring their America First message to voters in battleground states across the country,¡± Trump aides Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

He¡¯ll also engage in a favorite pastime ¡ª working the referees in the press corps. Trump is expected to sit for a series of interviews with reporters traveling with his campaign, in hopes of turning up pressure on Harris to do the same.

Indeed, just hours after Trump¡¯s team announced his plans, Harris fielded questions from members of the press traveling alongside her ¡ª just one of a handful of times she¡¯s done so since securing the nomination.

Harris used the occasion to defend her economic policy proposals ¡ª unveiled last week...