1. Accelerate the Momentum
Kamala Harris’ remarkable four-week candidacy has turbo-boosted Democrats’ electoral enthusiasm for holding the White House, taking the House majority and maybe even hanging on to Senate control. While the convention will acknowledge President Joe Biden – he’s headlining Monday night’s speeches – the overall message will be crystal clear: Harris is the new leader of the Democratic Party. Her No. 1 political task will be to define herself and outline policies appealing to a general election audience, even if that means at times awkward shape-shifting from policies she articulated during her short-lived 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign. Fortunately for the Harris-Walz ticket, former President Donald Trump’s unfocused messaging in recent weeks creates a big opening for the vice president to introduce herself to a national audience and outline a positive agenda.
2. Reproductive Rights
Democrats believe advocating for abortion rights is a key to their electoral fortunes, especially in swing state suburbs that will decide the presidential election, and messaging around reproductive freedoms will be central throughout the convention. Republican divisions over whether abortion post-Dobbs should be a federal or state issue and GOP splits over in vitro fertilization are handing Democrats political weapons that the Harris team will seek to exploit. Democrats also see comments by Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, on childless families as fuel to engage key voters on a winning issue for Democrats.
3. Immigration
The best defense is a good offense: Look for Democrats to flip the game board on immigration by touting Harris as a former border-state attorney general who cracked down on illegal border crossing and reminding voters that it was Trump who killed a bipartisan immigration compromise earlier this year. Democrats don’t need to win on immigration, but they do need to stop the political bleeding. That will be a challenge for a party confronted with internal forces advocating for virtually open borders and other Democrats wanting what many see as commonsense controls.
4. Tax Policy
Next year’s expiration of portions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act will allow Democrats to reiterate their pledge to protect households earning less than $400,000 from tax increases. Democrats also will lean into populist themes such as increasing tax rates on corporations and higher earners. And while Republicans seek to paint Harris and Democrats as eager to raise taxes, Harris recently took a page from Trump’s agenda by pledging to shield workers’ tips from income taxes.
5. Define the Election as a Referendum on Trump
Democrats will continue to portray Trump as unworthy of office and an ongoing threat to democracy. But that messaging has limited electoral reach; voters persuaded by that argument likely have already made up their minds. Harris will need to address Democrats’ biggest political vulnerabilities – the economy and immigration – and convince voters she has effective policy proposals to address their concerns. If Harris can persuade undecided Americans that she’s fighting for them and the issues they care most about while Trump is focused on his own political grievances, that could be another key to unlocking electoral victory in November.
