July 31, 2024, 11:32 a.m.
Vice President Kamala Harris has hit the ground running. She has eviscerated former President Trump’s polling lead. Her favorability ratings, which had long trailed those of President Biden, skyrocketed overnight. Her campaign reported raising $200 million in one week. And she has her opponent on the defensive.
”Donald Trump doesn’t care about border security. He only cares about himself,” Harris said during her rally in Atlanta yesterday. She also publicly challenged the former president to a debate and tried to tie him to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative agenda.
Yet, it’s not clear what her own vision looks like.
“She’s always had a tremendous amount of difficulty articulating her so-called ‘vision for the country,’” Democratic political strategist Ruy Teixeira told Hotline.
It’s not even clear where Harris stands within her own party. As a prosecutor in California, she built a reputation as a moderate. Yet, during her four-year stint in the Senate, she had one of the most liberal voting records. During her failed 2020 presidential run, she supported progressive policies such as a fracking ban and an end to private health insurance. She has since reneged on these policies.
Not all Democrats are concerned, though.
“We’re going to hear her over the next few weeks laying out … her positions,” Democratic pollster Carly Cooperman told Hotline.
Harris has already adopted Biden’s policy platform, a draft of which the DNC released on the same day that a man tried to assassinate Trump. The platform highlights familiar Democratic priorities: protecting and increasing abortion access, lowering health care costs, and averting climate change. But the draft also includes 45 mentions of Trump and 19 mentions of Project 2025.
Until now, the Harris campaign has been operating purely on the fumes created by Biden’s decision to suspend his reelection bid. But that won’t last, and the next few weeks will be critical to her chances of victory. She not only has to name a vice president and prepare for a convention, but she must also succinctly define herself and her vision for the country.
“This is the time to define her,” Cooperman added. “Nobody is talking about Trump right now. Everybody—on both sides—is talking about Harris.”
— Zac Weisz
zweisz@nationaljournal.com
