Trump pauses his campaign rally for an extended period, while Harris, Walz, and Vance intensify their efforts in battleground states.

• Donald Trump, the former president, stated that he intends to avoid participating in presidential campaign rallies until after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention, which takes place on August 22.
• In August 2016, Trump's campaign schedule was different from the current Republican nominee's plan.
• This week, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and JD Vance have been campaigning in key presidential battleground states.

Until after the Democratic National Convention, which ends on Aug. 22, former President Donald Trump stated that he intends to avoid participating in presidential campaign rallies.

During a comprehensive press conference at his Palm Beach, Florida residence, Trump was queried about his absence from campaigning that week.

Trump replied, "Since I'm leading significantly, I'm allowing their convention to proceed and actively campaigning."

Did you plan on retrieving your luggage?

Trump responded, "Yes, after their convention from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22," during a recent interview.

In August 2016, Trump's campaign schedule was much different from his current plan for the Republican presidential nominee.

During that month, Trump conducted 27 boisterous campaign events in 15 different states. Apart from filling stadiums, he spent most of his time on his plane, traveling between battleground states, fundraisers, and interviews — all while managing his family's real estate business.

By contrast, Trump has only held one rally so far this month.

Trump's opponents, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have spent the week campaigning in key presidential battleground states.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Harris and Walz spoke at rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan, following their debut partnership at a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The pair will continue their campaigning efforts in Arizona on Friday and Nevada on Saturday, both of which are highly competitive states in November's election.

Over the past five days, Trump has been at Mar-a-Lago, his resort, conducting phone interviews and podcasts, and holding an hourlong press conference on Thursday.

The Trump campaign website's "Events" page only lists a rally in Montana on Friday, which will partially benefit GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, indicating that Trump may reduce his travel to rallies in the near future.

In November, Sheehy aims to replace incumbent Democratic Senator Tester, and Trump's visit is expected to motivate Republicans in the conservative state.

Trump will attend a campaign fundraiser in Montana, followed by another fundraiser in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday before returning to Florida.

The Trump campaign confirmed to CNBC that the Republican nominee will not hold large, in-person presidential campaign rallies until after the Democratic convention.

Trump has a packed schedule of rallies, messaging events, and fundraisers in the upcoming week, surpassing the combined number of campaign events held by Harris and Walz, according to Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.

As Election Day approaches in less than 13 weeks, polls indicate that the presidential race is in a statistical tie. This makes it even more surprising that Trump has not intensified his campaign efforts in key swing states. It also increases the possibility that Trump may be missing crucial chances to connect with voters he needs to win in November.

The last three months of a presidential campaign are a rush to the finish, beginning with the party's nominating convention in mid-summer and ending on a Tuesday in early November.

Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign serves as a good example of how the sprint traditionally works and its effectiveness.

In the past eight years, Trump has conducted more than 20 rallies across multiple states.

In a span of six days, from Aug. 9 to 13, Trump held seven massive rallies, two each in North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania, and one in Connecticut, a state known for its Democratic leanings.

In November, Trump won Florida and Pennsylvania, two states Obama had won in 2012, and also swept North Carolina, which Obama had won in 2008. This resulted in a resounding victory for Trump against Hillary Clinton.

In 2020, due to the Covid pandemic, in-person campaign rallies were mostly cancelled on both sides.

This month, Trump has held a rally in Atlanta on Aug. 3 and attended a fundraiser in the Hamptons, New York's exclusive beach area the day before.

Trump, who survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in July, has recently participated in several media interviews instead of attending back-to-back rallies like he did during his first campaign.

On Monday, he was interviewed by controversial influencer Adin Ross via livestream. On Wednesday morning, he called into the Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends." He says he will be interviewed by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk next week.

This month, JD Vance, Trump's running mate, has become more visible and followed a more traditional campaign schedule.

While traveling to a Philadelphia event on Tuesday, the Ohio senator defended Trump's decision to skip an August campaign tour, stating that they were employing a "divide and conquer strategy."

"To effectively communicate, you must speak to people and reporters, as Vance advised. Additionally, raising resources is crucial, as the president is currently occupied with this task."

"We can prosecute a message together," Vance said. "Although we sometimes do events together, I believe we'll utilize the fact that we have two individuals who can both get out there and convey a message."

Vance spoke in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday as part of an effort to counter program Harris and Walz's campaign stops. He had also planned to hold two events in North Carolina on Thursday but postponed them due to the tropical storm.

This week, Vance's campaign events are not being advertised as rallies but rather as "press remarks," with only a small number of staff, reporters, and supporters present.