The White House on Thursday announced that Vice President Kamala Harris will be embarking on a college tour through key swing states in an effort to mobilize young Americans – a group that could prove to be a key voting bloc for Democrats in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris will be embarking on a college tour through key swing states in an effort to mobilize young Americans

  • Harris is set to visit a wide range of educational institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities like Hampton University in Virginia, Morehouse College in Georgia and North Carolina A&T State University, community colleges like the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, and four-year state schools like the University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • The VP is set to highlight key issues that “disproportionately impact young people across the country,” including reproductive rights, gun safety, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality and climate change

  • Young voters — namely those in the Millennial and Gen Z generations — have increasingly listed climate change, gun safety and abortion rights among their top issues

According to the White House, Harris — who has emerged as a fierce advocate in the Biden administration on issues ranging from abortion access to voting rights — will visit roughly a dozen campuses in at least seven states to highlight key issues that “disproportionately impact young people across the country,” including reproductive rights, gun safety, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality and climate change.

Young voters — namely those in the Millennial and Gen Z generations — have increasingly cited climate change, gun safety and abortion rights among their top issues.

“This generation is critical to the urgent issues that are at stake right now for our future,” Harris said in a statement. “It is young leaders throughout America who know what the solutions look like and are organizing in their communities to make them a reality.

“My message to students is clear: We are counting on you, we need you, you are everything,” she added.

Harris is set to visit a wide range of educational institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities like Hampton University in Virginia, Morehouse College in Georgia and North Carolina A&T State University, community colleges like the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, and four-year state schools like the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz.

A release from the White House earlier Thursday initally said that the tour would last a month; a spokesperson from the vice president's office told Spectrum News that some campus visits could still be scheduled in November, though the "majority" will take place in September and October.

The White House says that the multi-state swing, dubbed the “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour, is a continuation of Harris’ recent travel — she has been to 17 states this summer— and continues a trend of college visits; she has already been to 11 college campuses in 2023 so far, and 14 institutions last year.

This summer, Vice President Harris notably traveled to Florida to condemn Republican-led efforts to overhaul educational standards — condemning efforts by officials to “replace history with lies” — declaring that the nation does not have “a moment to spare, nor do we have a life to spare” in the fight to enact stricter firearm legislation at a major gun safety conference in Chicago, and traveled to Iowa to condemn the state’s six-week abortion ban.

“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do,” Harris said in late July to a gathered crowd at Drake University in Des Moines.

"The Vice President has been very outspoken, especially of late, on the attacks that we're seeing on Americans basic freedoms," Ernie Apreza, Harris' deputy press secretary told Spectrum News in an interview Thursday. "She's also very aware and has highlighted just how critical young people have been to any civil rights movement, and certainly how critical they are to the urgent issues that are at stake today."

When asked why Harris is a good choice to address younger Americans, Apreza noted that the vice president -- and President Biden -- "get it" when it comes to improving their lives.

"We're taking action on the things that we know young people care about, whether it's increasing access to mental health services, doing what they can to ensure that paying back student loans is more manageable, to investing to address the climate crisis, while at the same time creating a clean energy economy," Apreza said. "And so all these things have from day one have been a priority for both the president and vice president."

Harris in particular, Apreza said, "has an ability to be able to connect with young people, and has really prioritized engaging with with young people since truly the first day that she's been in office," noting her more than two dozen trips to college campuses as vice president.

It also highlights the ways in which the Biden-Harris reelection campaign is leaning on the vice president as President Joe Biden seeks a second term in the White House. According to a campaign memo obtained by ABC News, Biden reelection officials see Harris as a crucial figure in the reelection fight, praising her as a proven fundraiser as well as someone who connects with Democratic voters.

“As we enter the heart of the 2024 cycle, Vice President Harris is positioned once again to be a strong political force and invaluable asset to the Biden-Harris reelection effort,” the memo, obtained by the outlet, reads.

Spectrum News' Maddie Gannon contributed to this report.