The Scoop: Harris looks to fire up base heading into first debate

Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democrat’s presidential nomination on Thursday night, using the final day of her party’s convention to highlight who she is as a person and themes of her administration if elected.

“Never let anyone tell you who you are,” Harris said to a packed crowd in Chicago and tens of thousands of prospective voters watching live at home. “You show them who you are.”

Thursday night was one of the first times Harris spoke directly to  American voters since replacing her former running mate on the campaign trail last month.

During her nearly 45-minute speech, Harris spoke of her middle-class upbringing and how her parents – Jamaican and Indian immigrants – helped shape her political career. She also touched on several campaign-related themes, such as working to create an “opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed.” The country’s housing shortage was another topic.

Her comments, while powerful, didn’t highlight any of her specific campaign platforms or policies or how she planned to differentiate herself from Biden, whom she’d served under for the past four years. However, they did draw applause from the crowd, some of whom may have been on the fence about her candidacy only a few weeks ago.

Why it matters: Any campaign – whether it’s for a product launch or a political candidate – revolves around brand and messaging.

In many cases, political campaigns spend months developing policies and platforms, as well as how to convey that to would-be voters. Only Harris wasn’t afforded that same time luxury, being thrust into the heart of election season just five weeks ago.

Since June, Harris’ approval ratings have soared – increasing 13 percentage points to 47% with 93% of Democrats, 41% of independents and 5% of Republicans holding positive opinions of her, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Harris used her DNC speech to promote a “new way forward” – a general refutation of the political divisiveness developed under the leadership of former President Donald Trump. “That speech was a call, and an invitation to American voters to put the politics of the last 10 years behind us,” Terry Moran, ABC’s Senior National Correspondent, said.

However, with only 73 days until Election Day, Harris still hasn’t really started a national campaign to appeal to would-be voters. As Vox reported on Tuesday: “Harris has at times briefly answered questions from reporters publicly — and has reportedly spoken to her traveling press pool off the record. But she’s done no formal interviews and held no formal press conferences.”

Harris and her advisers have no doubt spent that time honing a platform ahead of the upcoming debate(s). But she “faces the challenge of charting a distinct agenda while still serving under her unpopular boss, making it difficult to disavow Biden’s policy stances,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

While it’s assumed many of Harris’ policies will closely mirror those she and Biden were working on or planning to work on, that needs to be communicated in her own voice. On Aug. 16, the Harris team unveiled a slew of economic policies but she didn’t mention them at least for a moment while the whole country was watching.

“Of course, we can’t discount the fact that she’s the sitting vice president, but this is going to look different, and it is going to feel (like) a material change,” Rohini Kosoglu, a Harris policy adviser, told the WSJ.

Not leaning into those policy plans so explicitly potentially leaves the Harris/Walz ticket vulnerable to attacks about why she didn’t do more to address those concerns during her term as VP.

In light of firm campaign promises and proposals, the Democratic Party used the four-day convention to promote general themes such as returning to hope and attacking Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, who Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described as “one of those guys who thinks if you don’t live the life he has in mind for you, then you don’t count.“

That approach will do a great job lighting a fire under the base, but it’s likely not going to be enough to convince undecided voters. In the days leading up to her debate with Trump, Harris and team need to lean into specific policies to highlight what a Harris/Walz administration would look like.

The first debate is Sept. 10.

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Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.