Harris hopes Ellipse’s speech will evoke Trump’s chaos but also evoke her own promise

As Vice President Kamala Harris’ advisers weighed where to hold her final major campaign appearance, they had a few boxes to check.

In their view, the venue should convey to voters a degree of seriousness in the choice. But no less important, in their opinion, was her ability to evoke in her the promise of the position to which she aspired.

At the Ellipse – the section of the park where Donald Trump rallied his supporters on January 6, 2021, near the White House – they believe they have found that balance.

For Harris, balancing dire warnings about a rival she calls a fascist with forward-looking optimism about the future president has become a defining challenge in the final stages of the campaign.

Tuesday’s big speech is one of the last remaining opportunities for the vice president to try to reach a critical segment of the electorate known inside the campaign as “conflict voters,” aides said, or those who may be concerned about Trump’s behavior but who are not yet convinced that Harris is the candidate of change who can take the country on the right path.

While it’s hard to imagine one speech can make a difference, aides say it is also intended to create a clear contrast with Trump’s controversial rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. Aides said that was not the original intent of Harris’ keynote address, but they believe it will serve as a timely rebuttal.

“It will crystallize many of the key arguments she started with,” according to a source familiar with Harris’ speech, citing reproductive freedom and her articulation of what she calls the “opportunity economy.”

Despite the sober overtones of the setting – this is where Trump ordered his supporters to march to the Capitol on January 6; many did so, resulting in destruction and death. Harris’ advisers say the speech will be hopeful and optimistic and will not focus solely on the events that unfolded at the site nearly four years ago.

If there’s one takeaway from the day she wants to go home, advisers say, it’s that her own victory will turn the page on Trump’s divisions.

With the office she seeks to occupy 500 yards to the north, the setting provides an opportunity for Harris to describe her plans for the country, mainly regarding the economy, a top issue for voters.

In the final week of the campaign, aides say the speech is not intended to highlight an entirely new topic, but rather will frame the stakes of the race and highlight the deep contrast between Harris and Trump.

Aides say the Ellipse position will allow Harris to make familiar arguments about democracy in a setting that clearly highlights the lengths to which Trump and his allies have gone to try to overturn the 2020 election. They said the passage would also highlight how she believes a second term could be worse.

“As I have said many times and will say in my speech tomorrow night, there is a big difference between him and me. If he’s elected on day one, he’ll sit in the Oval Office working on his list of enemies. ” Harris said Monday. “On day one, if I am elected President of the United States, as I fully intend to be, I will work on behalf of the American people on my to-do list.”

On Monday, preparations were underway ahead of the performance, including the installation of tall black fencing to create a secure perimeter around the ellipse.

The permit for the event stated that it would attract about 20,000 people and include access to the National Mall – her first major outdoor campaign appearance in Washington. Most of Harris’s major rallies this year have taken place in arenas or stadiums in battleground states.

The vice president worked on her speech while traveling to Michigan on Monday for three campaign stops, working on final drafts of one of the biggest speeches since the Democratic National Convention, aides said. She is also expected to tackle the economy, lowering prescription drug costs, and a broader agenda for the middle class, although the sharpest contrasts are likely to come in Trump’s character.

In some ways, this echoes Harris’ remarks at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, the day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, making Tuesday’s speech something of a bookend in its extremely truncated form. campaigns.

“All of this means that building a middle class will be the defining goal of my presidency,” Harris said at the time. “Because we know here that when our middle class is strong, America is strong.”

Aides compared Tuesday’s speech to closing arguments Harris made as a prosecutor early in her career. By presenting the evidence to the jury—in this case, the voters—she hopes to tie the various threads together into a single case for herself.

She had no shortage of advice. As has been the case since Biden has been the party’s standard-bearer, Democrats have been somewhat divided over how much to emphasize Trump’s character and the perceived danger to democracy rather than focusing more narrowly on matters of the purse.

Last week, a leading super PAC supporting Harris’ candidacy expressed concern that the Harris campaign was too focused in its closing message on calling Trump a fascist.

“This theme is not as compelling as the contrasting messages showing Harris’ economic plans and her promise to protect reproductive rights,” the group warned in an email to Democrats about messaging in the final stages of the campaign.

Still, Harris’ advisers believe there are moderates who will be swayed by the ties between Trump and fascism, especially when they are raised by his former top aide John Kelly.

More broadly, Harris’ team sees the final days of the campaign as a moment to tap into widespread exhaustion and disillusionment with Trump’s chaotic policies, not only shining a light on the turmoil but offering a clear alternative.

Since Harris rose to the top of the polls in July, her campaign has worked to capitalize on the trappings of office — and the power of a strong image — to help voters see her as president and take the historic step of electing the first woman. as commander in chief.

The expansive backdrop of the White House and the National Mall was designed for maximum effect in the week leading up to the last day of voting. It’s something of an analogue to the August rally in Detroit, where Harris spoke to thousands of people against the majestic backdrop of Air Force Two.

The prime-time Ellipse speech comes amid growing concern among some about how much time Harris will devote to disqualifying Trump compared with what she would do if elected. Tuesday night’s speech, advisers told CNN, is intended to be a balance of both messages.

“We don’t have the luxury of just saying what she will do as president,” said a top Democratic adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss policy decisions. “We can’t pretend this is a normal election.”

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