Can Kamala Harris convince voters she’s a centrist? Donald Trump calls her ‘dangerously liberal’

Kamala Harris’s big message at this week’s Democratic convention: I’m a centrist who cares deeply about the middle class. But she’s got a lot of explaining to do.

The Democratic presidential nominee began a winding, unpredictable 74-day road to the election Friday. She’s going to be questioned about how she’s swung to the middle after being rated one of the Senate’s most liberal members. She’ll be grilled on how she plans to pay for her ambitious tax cuts.

And most urgently, she has to figure out how, or whether, to respond to the barrage of insults and allegations from Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Friday morning, Republicans were blanketing social media with reminders that since Harris became the presumptive nominee a month ago, she’s done no media interviews or press conferences. And they’re reminding voters over and over about her liberal background.

“Kamala Harris is dangerously liberal, describing her as anything else is a lie,” said an email from the Trump rapid response team. .

“Their vision for America is scary. It’s really bad. It’ll be the end of this country. Economy CRASH. Jobs ELIMINATED. Illegals INVADING. Crime SKYROCKETING,” said an “Alert from Trump.”

The vice president’s biggest challenge, said convention-goers as they left Chicago Friday, is to stick to the centrist, middle class themes while not letting Trump — a master at getting under a rival’s skin — publicly rattle her. The biggest initial test is coming up Sept. 10, when Harris and Trump are scheduled to debate.

Harris’s fellow Democrats are urging her to stay consistent and focused — and now that she’s established a firm identity at the convention, to stick to it.

“I want her to be herself,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Here’s what else Democrats at the convention say Harris needs to do now:

Focus on issues she cares deeply about

Harris has been emphasizing her roots growing up in a middle class home. Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz talks about growing up in small town Nebraska and coaching high school football in Minnesota.

“Working class people can look at them and see themselves,” said Shawn Fain, United Auto Workers president. “I can’t look at Donald Trump and see that.”

Harris last week proposed an economic plan that includes help for new homebuyers, tax breaks for families with children and efforts to ease what she called price gouging at grocery stores.

Harris and Walz “will protect the American dream so that every family can earn a living, own a home and reach their full potential,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino. “This is a vision for America that Donald Trump will never understand.”

Be careful responding to Trump

The former president has been calling Harris “Comrade Kamala,” and a socialist lunatic, among other insults.

Friday, an “Alert from Trump” sent to supporters warned, “Their vision for America is scary. It’s really bad. It’ll be the end of this country. Economy CRASH. Jobs ELIMINATED. Illegals INVADING. Crime SKYROCKETING,”

Often the more inaccurate material and monikers are circulated, the more people could wind up believing it–so should Harris get into daily brawls with Trump?

No, said Democrats. “I think for the most part she ignores it, and deals with it with humor,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno.

Lorena Gonzalez, California Labor Federation president, agreed. “She doesn’t have to take him on. We all know he’s crazy,” she said, adding that it’s also up to the media to report on Trump’s truthfulness.

Remember the non-swing states

Roughly seven states are too close to call – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina. These are states that either voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, or had very tight races in those elections.

Keep the message consistent, said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and appealing to voters won’t be difficult.

In his state, which has urban, rural and suburban areas, “the terrain looks really different. Oftentimes the people look really different. But folks basically want the same four things.”

That means stressing good schools, safe communities, real economic opportunity and freedom to love, worship and live as they want.

While Harris and Trump are expected to spend much of their time wooing swing state voters, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York noted that control of the House is likely to be decided in California and New York. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win a majority.

“There are four or five or six seats that are winnable in California,” Jeffries said.

Motivate reluctant voters

“You’ve got to convince a bunch of non-voters to register and vote. These are people who don’t like politicians, and they shut themselves off,” said Cat Dengate, a Redlands teacher attending the convention.

Since Biden left the race a month ago, and Harris became more prominent, polls have shown soaring enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket.

A July 31-August 4 CNBC All American survey showed 82% of Democratic voters are satisfied with Harris as the nominee. In a July NBC News survey, 33% said they were satisfied with Biden as the nominee.

Be herself

Voters are still learning about Harris. Her positions on some key issues, notably crime, immigration and health care, have changed throughout the years.

Until becoming vice president in 2021, she took some favorite liberal positions, and was consistently rated among the Senate’s most liberal members. She was once for Medicare for All, then pulled back. She proposed a tax cut largely for families earning less than $100,000, a plan that went nowhere.

But as California attorney general, she’s also had more centrist and more nuanced politics. Harris was the self-proclaimed “top cop” in the state, and wrote a book suggesting a more nuanced way of dealing with crime.

Republicans keep hammering her on what they say are inconsistencies and exaggerations.

“Just as Kamala Harris and her Fake News allies absurdly demand that Americans not believe their lying eyes on Bidenflation, they now also insist that skyrocketing crime is all a figment of Americans’ imagination ” a Trump “rapid response” statement said this week.

The answer to all this for Harris? “Be consistent,” said Sandra Davis, a registered nurse from Stockton attending the convention.