WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris faces the fine task of tailoring her policy offer to American voters, a standard task for any White House contender but one that comes with additional challenges this year.
First, Harris is running for president while still serving under President Joe Biden. That means she is tied to everything that happened—or will happen—under his presidency. She inherits successes like capping insulin costs, but also the administration’s fight to prevent illegal border crossings.
Second, Harris is dragging her own failed presidential campaign before becoming Biden’s running mate four years ago. During that Democratic primary, she supported a number of progressive proposals that Republicans have highlighted in an attempt to portray her as “dangerously liberal.”
Harris has already broken some of her previous positions, such as banning fracking and supporting national health insurance, and she is promising to keep some of Biden’s promises, including no tax increases for people earning less than $400,000 a year.
That means Harris’s path to the White House could depend on her ability to chart a course for the country’s future while being selective about her past. Success will come from keeping Democrats united behind her vision while keeping the focus on Republican candidate Donald Trump, who is undermining abortion rights and challenging democratic traditions.
Everything has to happen with unprecedented speed, as Harris was abruptly thrust into the spotlight after Biden decided to drop his re-election bid just over a week ago. Her redesigned campaign website doesn’t even include a policy section.
“You build the plane as you fly it,” said Bakari Sellers, a Harris ally who co-led her campaign four years ago.
Sellers said Harris should make sure to focus on basic issues like medical bills.
“You can see the history she represents. You can hear it in her voice,” Sellers said. “But you still have to appeal to voters who don’t know who you are, who don’t accept the historic nature of your campaign.”
Not surprisingly, Harris largely shares Biden’s agenda. In her campaign speeches since entering the presidential race, she has promoted affordable child care, paid family leave and improved healthcare.
On Tuesday in Atlanta, she promised to fight against price gouging and hidden bank fees. She always emphasized the restoration of the nationwide right to abortion, which was abolished by the US Supreme Court two years ago.
She also supports novel proposals that Biden has announced since taking over the campaign trail, including term limits for Supreme Court justices and mandatory ethics rules. In a statement, Harris said the court faces a “clear crisis of confidence” that must be addressed.
Presidential candidates often lay out their policy ideas in detail during the primaries to differentiate themselves within their party. But Harris skipped that step this year, and she may be under less pressure in the compressed campaign to spell out exactly how novel programs will be funded and implemented.
“In this environment, the Democratic candidate needs to make enough political statements to convey to people how she intends to bring her fight for the future to life, but at the same time not too much so that the speeches don’t become too heavy,” said Jamal Simmons, a former communications director in the vice president’s office.
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Harris, said she would “build on the historic agenda of the Biden-Harris administration” and offer a “stark contrast” to Trump’s plans to cut taxes on the affluent and repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Harris wants to keep the Democrats together in the final months of the election campaign. So far there have been few intra-party skirmishes, but they are not completely ruled out.
Two billionaire donors said Harris should replace Lina Khan, Biden’s appointee of the Federal Trade Commission, if elected because of her aggressive exploit of antitrust laws. Liberals then defended Khan and urged Harris to keep her in office. Harris has not commented on the issue.
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said the White House has built “great trust” with liberal groups that will carry Harris through the election. He doubted she would dramatically change the course of the Biden administration but expected “she will have her own unique style and focus.”
Green added: “I don’t think anyone should be afraid of making a gut decision.”
Some of Harris’s policy shifts may be more about focus than outright change. For example, her recent comments on the Gaza war did not create a divide between her and Biden, but Harris placed more emphasis on the suffering of Palestinians. She has also been more outspoken in reaching out to Americans demoralized by the conflict.
“To all those calling for a ceasefire and to all those longing for peace: I see you and I hear you,” she said.
Republicans want to prevent Harris from reinventing herself for the general election. They want to burden her with the controversies of the Biden era and her own campaign from four years ago.
“She’s been involved in every single one of Joe Biden’s failures, but we’ve also seen the vision she has for the presidency,” said Mike Berg, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “She would make things worse.”
Trump’s team and allies have scoured videos of Harris talking about providing health care to immigrants living in the country illegally and decriminalizing border crossings, and they blame her for migration problems that occurred before border crossings were eliminated under Biden’s recent policies.
Although Trump has been unlikely to be consistent in his policy proposals, Harris is at greater risk because she is less well-known and public opinion about her can still be influenced, Berg said.
“She will be seen as a liar,” he said. “Did she lie then or is she lying now?”
Simmons doubted voters would care about her past positions on issues like the “defund the police” movement, which Harris praised for questioning whether money was being spent wisely on public safety, as she herself was part of an administration that pumped more money into law enforcement.
“Five years ago she said something, but two years ago she did something about it and today the crime rate is lower,” he said.
