WASHINGTON— With the end of her abbreviated presidential campaign in sight, Kamala Harris is trying to put the focus squarely on Donald Trump and his threat to democratic institutions, echoing the strategy used by Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid.
It’s a bet that fear of the former Republican president can rally Harris supporters and nudge undecided voters to her side in the final days. Harris’ challenge will be connecting philosophical questions about American democracy with the everyday concerns of individual Americans.
The effort will be on full display Tuesday, when Harris delivers what her team describes as her closing argument from the Ellipse, the grassy space adjacent to the National Mall in Washington. It’s the same place where Trump stood when he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in what became a bloody attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s election victory.
By her choice of location, the vice president is drawing attention to Trump’s quest for unchecked power, an issue that also animated Biden’s aborted reelection campaign. Biden spoke frequently about the battle for democratic values — sometimes, according to his critics, to the detriment of economic concerns.
Since replacing Biden at the top of the ticket, Harris has tried to reassure voters that she will bring down the costs of groceries and housing. She’s also put more distance between herself and Biden, promising “a new approach” if elected.
But Harris also increasingly talks about Trump as an existential threat, with his description of Jan. 6 as “a day of love” and the latest revelation that his former chief of staff believes he’s a fascist. She’s made an effort to reach out to Republicans who are uneasy about Trump, urging them to unite behind her candidacy to safeguard American ideals.
The speech for Tuesday’s event is still being written, although there are glimpses of the message in her recent public remarks.
“It’s either Donald Trump in there stewing over his enemies list, or me working for you, checking off my to-do list,” Harris said in Georgia on Thursday. “You have the power to make that decision.”
That event featured former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, and she’s heading to Texas on Friday for an event with Beyoncé focused on abortion rights.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said Harris’ message is a sign that she’s losing and “the walls are closing in.”
“That’s why Kamala is resorting to the attacks Democrats have been hurling at President Trump for years,” she said. “Unfortunately for Kamala, despite these old and tired lies, President Trump is still more popular today than he ever has been since 2016.”
Trump’s favorability rating has been strikingly consistent for several years, although it dived to 36% in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, according to Gallup polling. It was 46% last month.
Harris had a 44% favorability rating last month, an increase from 34% in June, the month before she replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate.
Faiz Shakir, a political adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, said attacking Trump has been “a tried-and-true tactic” for years.
Biden demonstrated that days before the midterm elections with a speech at Union Station in Washington. Although he mentioned popular programs such as Medicare and Social Security, he focused more on fears that electing Republicans would embolden Trump and his antidemocratic efforts.
“I hope you will make the future of our democracy an important part of your decision to vote and how you vote,” Biden said.
Democrats performed better than expected in the midterms, and about 4 in 10 voters said the future of U.S. democracy was their primary consideration when voting, according to AP VoteCast. Among Democrats, it was about 6 in 10.
However, Shakir was skeptical that a similar approach was the best approach this year.
“They kind of have given up on, in my view, the argument of persuasion, that we want to tell people something new or different about Kamala Harris,” he said. “Instead we want to remind you of the worst of Donald Trump.”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said Harris should be doing “a little of both” by talking up her plans for the middle class and attacking Trump’s statements.
“We know what a second Trump term would look like — it would be attacking all of the things that we hold dear,” Shuler said.
The AFL-CIO president recalled a recent conversation on the Gordie Howe Bridge in Michigan, where a worker said he liked Trump’s idea of eliminating taxes on overtime pay. But Shuler responded that during Trump’s time in office, his administration tried to undermine access to overtime, which would make his promise worthless in terms of tax savings.
