Vice President Kamala Harris canceled her planned trip to stump for embattled California Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of his recall election just hours after it was reported that at least 13 American service members in Iraq were killed.

Harris was originally scheduled to appear with Newsom at the Stop the Republican Recall car rally at the historic Cow Palace outside of San Francisco on Friday in an effort to increase Democratic turnout in the September 14 election.

But as the vice president made her way back from a trip to Singapore and Vietnam, her spokeswoman, Symone Sanders tweeted she would be heading back to Washington D.C. after visiting Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Thursday afternoon.

A short while later, the  reports, Newsom's campaign spokesman Nathan Click announced the rally was canceled, even though the details of the logistics for the scheduled drive-in event had been unveiled.

It is unclear whether it will be rescheduled, amid reports of tight polls between Newsom and his Republican rivals, with radio host Larry Elder currently believed to be the strongest challenger. 

Harris, a former California Senator and Attorney General, was supposed to be the main draw of the campaign event, according to

He was elected in 2018 with overwhelming support, but now only has a thin margin to keep his seat against a Republican-led effort to oust him for his handling of the COVID pandemic and the state's worsening homeless problem, according to

Newsom sparked particular outrage last November when he was filmed dining inside the ultra-exclusive French Laundry restaurant while urging Californians to stay home.  

In recent weeks, KTLA reports, he has tried to focus his messaging on women and voters of color, a group Harris is uniquely poised to speak to as the nation's first female vice president, and the first black and South Asian person to serve in the role.

She had previously served as the state's attorney general, before becoming a United States senator.

But as the chaos in Afghanistan continues to unfold, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor of public policy communication at the University of Southern California, said it may have been smart for Harris to cancel the trip.

She added that a visit from President Joe Biden, who White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said before the attacks would campaign for Newsom, could actually be a negative for the Newsom campaign.

'I don't see any reason, on either end, that it's absolutely necessary, let alone positive, for the president to take time to go campaign for Gavin Newsom right now,' she said.