Kamala Harris gives the Democrats a new face to take on “little” Trump

Kamala Harris ended the Democratic Party convention on Thursday by giving her supporters a patriotic mission: to defeat Donald Trump.

“Now it's our turn to do what generations before us have done,” she told a packed crowd of flag-waving Democrats in Chicago. “Guided by optimism and faith, we fight for this country we love.”

The US Vice President, who had been catapulted into a shortened election campaign for the White House just a month ago, spoke to a live nationwide audience about a party that had taken on a new face during the few days of partying in Chicago.

After the increasingly gloomy final weeks of President Joe Biden's term as their candidate, Democrats now have a new message that they believe will bring Harris to the White House: She, not Trump, is now the candidate for change.

Biden had tirelessly portrayed Trump as all-powerful – a threat to US democracy and America’s reputation in the world.

Yet the Trump portrayed at the Democratic National Convention in recent days was a weak, narrow-minded and selfish old man. The neighbor who, as former President Barack Obama said in his speech, left the leaf blower outside your window all day. A small man obsessed with the size of crowds. A man, Michelle Obama said, who couldn't understand how two black people could be successful.

Instead of Biden's high-flown rhetoric about Trump's threat to the republic, Harris and her allies focused on their theme that personal liberties – including reproductive rights – were at stake.

Meanwhile, speeches to a packed hall were repeatedly interrupted by shouts of “USA” under a sea of ​​American flags. Several speakers also tried to blame Trump, not the Democrats, for the increase in immigration across the border under Biden.

It was another message to US voters accustomed to the flag-waving of Trump and his MAGA movement: Democrats can be tough and patriotic too.

“I want to make clear what I mean to my Republican friends at home who are watching,” former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, one of many Republicans who appeared at the DNC, said in a speech. “If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat. You are a patriot.”

After this crash course in reorientation, Harris may believe she has accomplished her other policy goals as well: uniting a notoriously divided party, refining her appeal to moderate and independent voters, and putting Trump on the defensive.

Democrats suddenly feel like they have a winning candidate again – a turnaround from the gloomy mood when Biden was still in the race.

“She rose to the occasion,” Rufus Gifford, chief financial officer of Harris' campaign, told the Financial Times. “Every now and then there are those special moments, special candidates. That's what we're seeing here.”

Eric Schultz, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Obama, said the party was now “rowing in the same direction” after a painful period of self-doubt.

“Our party can get loud and chaotic at times, but right now we're all focused on one mission.”

Biden's presence at the DNC was brief, underscoring how quickly the party has changed course.

“America, I gave you my best,” he said in a speech Monday in which he spent more time defending his legacy than cheering on Harris. He left Chicago that same evening for California.

Biden's exit from the race last month was widely discussed in the halls of the DNC, under pressure from party bigwigs like Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives – a lingering source of bitterness for some of the president's allies.

At one point, Pelosi was asked about reports that Biden was upset about her maneuvers. “What bothers me would be the re-election of Donald Trump,” she replied bluntly.

Some Democrats had wanted someone other than Harris to succeed Biden because they doubted her political acumen. At the DNC, however, these arguments seemed to be put to rest.

“She's vice president, she knows what the job of a president is … she's a very qualified woman,” Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democratic congresswoman from Virginia, told the FT. “We've all worked with her and we think she's great.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer – a rising Democratic star who some hoped would replace Biden on the ballot – called Harris a “total go-getter.” Elizabeth Warren, the progressive U.S. senator from Massachusetts, said: “You know what I like about Kamala Harris? She can't be bought and she can't be told what to do.”

One concern within the Harris campaign team was that pro-Palestinian protesters in Chicago could overshadow the major event in the heavily guarded DNC arena.

Although the protests were smaller and more limited than many expected, some activists called on DNC organizers to give Palestinians more visibility and for Harris to take a tougher stance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“She signaled she would be different, but the problem is we don't have a truce,” said Andy Levin, a former congressman from Michigan. “I know they're happy to support her and support her if she gives them a little bit of accommodation.”

Differences over economic policy have been resolved. Harris has put forward some proposals to reduce high housing and food costs, but there is still much debate ahead over her stance on business and regulation.

One progressive attendee said party unity behind Biden's industrial policies and tough antitrust stance could be at risk after the election.

“People are holding back their powder,” the person said.

Despite the euphoria for Harris within her own ranks, experienced party leaders warned that the race against Trump was still too exciting to rest on one's laurels.

The next big moment in the campaign will be the televised debate between Harris and Trump on September 10. That will be followed by a race for votes as some begin casting their early or mail-in ballots weeks before the November election.

Patrick Gaspard, president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, told the Financial Times that if the election were held now, Harris would win a majority of the vote but might lose in the Electoral College, a body that prioritizes victories in a small number of swing states and determines the outcome – a fate that befell Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“It has become a mood election – and that is a great thing,” he said. But “this mood, as great as it is, will not get us over the hump.”

Still, after revamping the Democrats' campaign pitch, Harris will feel she has neutralized some of Trump's attacks. In particular, she will claim that “Comrade Kamala” is just a radical leftist who has weaknesses on national security issues.

Freedom, relative youth and what Harris called “common sense” will be the issues when she takes on the “unserious” Trump. But the California prosecutor also hopes to capitalize on the enthusiasm of a newly empowered section of her electorate.

“She happens to be a woman and that’s the icing on the cake,” Pelosi said.