WASHINGTON — After having spent the last month trying to persuade undecided voters to support her, Vice President Kamala Harris will now pivot to the closing argument phase of her campaign and enlist the party’s biggest stars to help make her final pitch, according to three people familiar with the strategy.
Harris is set to appear with former President Barack Obama in Georgia on Thursday and with former first lady Michelle Obama in Michigan on Saturday, the first time the Democratic presidential nominee will campaign with the Obamas this cycle.
With just 12 days to go, the events are meant to be massive “get out the vote” rallies, where the focus will be to encourage Americans to make plans to vote and vote early, if possible, they said.
A significant part of Harris’ last push will be a major speech Tuesday. She will deliver it at the Ellipse outside the White House — a notable location because it’s where former President Donald Trump spoke shortly before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol.
In the final days of the race, Harris is expected to stress that she still believes she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are the “underdogs” in the race and that “nothing can be left on the field,” a Harris aide said.
She has already delivered part of her closing argument, focusing on Trump and her belief that he would undermine American democracy and values if he were sent back to the Oval Office, two campaign officials said.
Her closing pitch to voters is expected to give less of a full recounting of her biography and focus more on convincing voters she represents the future for the country and would defend their day-to-day freedoms, officials said.
She will also continue to slam Trump, stressing that he is “increasingly unhinged and unstable,” and she will argue that his desire for “unchecked power” is dangerous.
In recent weeks, Harris has embarked on a media blitz, a key component of persuasion efforts in the final stretch of the campaign. During interviews and most of her events, Harris has increasingly dialed up her warnings about Trump and used his own words to convey her concern about his potential return to power.
Harris has also started to use video clips of Trump’s comments at her rallies, a pattern that is expected to continue.
A Harris campaign aide said the strategy is viewed as a “smart way to force a conversation about him.”
“A huge part of our thinking is that we need to show his lack of fitness,” the person said.
Another campaign official said the campaign’s internal polling shows that suburban and independent voters in the final days of the cycle can be effectively moved by showing actual video of Trump at Harris rallies in a way she had not done before.
Another key part of her closing message will be about differentiating herself from President Joe Biden, repeating the vow that her hypothetical administration would not be a “continuation” of his record, according to another Harris campaign aide.
“I bring my own experiences, my own ideas to it, and it has informed a number of my areas of focus,” Harris told NBC News in an interview Tuesday. “I have been traveling the country. I am very clear: The cost of groceries is still too high. The voters know it, I know it.”
Harris will seek to talk about specific economic policies to lower living costs, from everyday expenses to more affordable housing, the Harris aide said
She will also continue to put out “new plans,” according to campaign co-chair Robert Garcia, who stressed the end of the race will be about creating a “contrast and choice” with Trump.
“Donald Trump’s comments continue to become more bizarre and more strange, and that’s something that should concern the American people and, in these closing days,” Garcia told NBC News on Wednesday, “Kamala Harris will make that argument.”
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