The anxious Harris campaign devises ambitious strategies for securing a slim victory
Over the next two weeks, insiders expect Donald Trump to continue mentioning the "opposing force within" or January 6 as a "day of affection" while going on lengthy diversions like his lewd remarks about golf legend Arnold Palmer during a Pennsylvania rally. They believe these actions will provide them with the opportunity to prompt him into making more extraordinary statements.
The aim is to divert the public's focus towards viewing a second Trump term as pushing the country further astray and perceiving Harris as a suitable catalyst for change. This perspective could significantly influence the election, according to over a dozen high-ranking advisers and allies to the Harris campaign. During a discussion with significant contributors in Philadelphia, Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon acknowledged the race could remain tight but emphasized its significance in the pivotal states where the presidency will be decided.
According to David Plouffe, Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager and a senior adviser to Harris, it would be unconventional for seven states to end up in a close contest. However, considering the current battleground situation, he believes this is a likely scenario.
Plouffe and other Harris advisers acknowledge that Trump's door-to-door canvassing and field operations, which are primarily outsourced, may not be able to compete with the extensive resources the national Democrats and the Harris campaign have invested in over a year. They believe this advantage can only take them so far.
"Democrats hope Trump doesn't garner more than 46% of the national vote," Plouffe said, referring to the percentage secured by Trump in his previous campaigns. However, in the battleground states, "46% is not realistic," he added. "Trump will likely secure up to 48% in these states. So, our goal is to achieve our winning percentage, which may vary between 50% and 49.5% depending on the state."
Plouffe and other Harris aides are optimistic about Harris' potential for growth. To achieve this, they are planning eye-catching events featuring Harris, with striking backdrops designed to reinforce key messages.
"The objective is to stimulate enthusiasm and ensure our presence is felt in all these places," said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a co-chair of the Harris campaign.
More targeted communication
As Harris aides scramble to locate disengaged voters, much of their outreach will involve innovative tactics that are new to presidential campaigns, including those that utilize cutting-edge technology.
Campaign advisers believe these methods can make a difference through their surrogates, whether they are celebrities engaging in targeted social media appearances or community figures sending personalized texts, like the attendees at a Doug Emhoff event in Southfield, Michigan, who were encouraged to send messages promoting "Kamala Shabbat" dinners.
The Harris advisers who spoke to CNN demonstrated a blend of confidence and unease, frequently using phrases like "toss-up" and "down to the wire."
Concerns have been raised about Harris potentially losing the traditional TV ad wars against the relentless and intensive Republican attacks on transgender issues. However, the Harris advisers challenged this notion, arguing that most undecided voters are not paying attention to these ads, even if they watch television. They contend that the campaign holds an edge over Trump's team due to its meticulous, neighborhood-by-neighbor organizing and ongoing adjustments based on early vote and online data.
Throughout the "rebellious summer" and the intense atmosphere of the Democratic convention, this had been their plan: a closely-contested race that would be won on the margins and require pivotal moves that some political commentators might label as desperate, last-ditch efforts.
A few notable announcements can be expected: Following months of careful research and polling on well-known non-politicians, including entertainers and athletes, the campaign will release more endorsements, interviews, and appearances intended to resonate with disengaged voters. Expect events similar to the vice president's interview with Charlamagne tha God and Julia Roberts' journey to Georgia, both initiatives stemming from the campaign's research.
"We're not indiscriminately throwing ideas at the wall," said a campaign official. "We have meticulously studied the preferences of these voters."
The outreach will also involve reviving Biden-style themes criticizing Trump's unsuitability for the presidency, while convincing skeptical voters to support the first Black female president. However, instead of moralistic and abstract messaging, Harris and her ads will emphasize the perceived negative consequences of a second Trump presidency. And while Biden never managed to, they plan to intensify their criticisms of Trump's perceived mental and physical decline.
Reproductive rights will remain a focal point, but the outreach will also focus on Harris' background and economic plans, confident that there is room for growth among non-college-educated White women alienated by Trump. The team also expects to boost their support among seniors and amplify the enthusiasm for Harris among Black women, while striving to expand support among Black men and Latinos.
"At some point, you just long to be the one to deliver the final scream at them as loudly as you can," mentioned a prominent Democratic strategist helping to elect Harris. "But this thing is going to be decided in the last seven days, I am positive about it."
Extensive strategies for the closing two weeks
At least one closing event is planned to reassemble Harris and running mate Tim Walz, with the Minnesota governor anticipated to initiate Trump-bashing in rural areas and among men, a task the campaign finds harder in advertisements.
“Some of these individuals say, ‘Well, we endured one Trump term.’ They rewrite the story of it. They don’t remember that all of our neighbors were dying from Covid due to his irrational neglect of science, and suggesting we inject bleach didn’t prove fruitful,” Walz remarked at a Papillion, Nebraska rally on Saturday, previewing the lines he’ll be utilizing in the following two weeks. “They inform us we could survive another four years, and I’m an optimist. ... But I genuinely don’t know if the institutions will survive if we obtain another four years of Donald Trump.”
Walz then highlighted Michael Flynn’s recent response when questioned if he would oversee military tribunals if Trump returns to the White House.
“The answer to that is: ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Michael Flynn’s answer was: ‘We have to win first,’” Walz said. “I won’t give the flag to a fascist like these guys, and I won’t give them family issues because we know where the family values came from. We won’t give them freedom, that’s for sure, because we know what freedom looks like. And I’m not giving them football – the posers.”
The campaign aims to amplify that argument, with advertisements during games, online appeals, and digital billboards along Nebraska highways displaying a man who’s a two-time Trump voter and a hunter but opting for Harris this time.
Advisors recognize that part of this outreach involves comforting jittery Democratic insiders who never truly believed Trump could win in 2016, then assumed he would lose in 2020, and now face the actual prospect of Trump winning again.
Usually, wealthy Democratic donors are eager to express their doubts. But departing a Philadelphia retreat following briefings on campaign mechanics and legal preparations, numerous top donors felt convinced that Harris can make it.
Several left buzzing with Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison’s speech at a thank-you dinner at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Imagine, he said, it’s Inauguration Day, and it’s also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and everyone is bundled up in the cold on the steps of a Capitol built by the hands of slaves.
Focus on two individuals, Harrison said, according to two individuals in the room: first, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her black robe, holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible; subsequently, Harris, in white or maybe tan, walking out to place her hand on that Bible to take the oath.
“Doesn’t have to be a fairy tale,” Harrison told them. “It can be our reality if we all do something.”
Not relying on a ‘silent majority’
The Harris campaign is not responsible for the signs that have started appearing in women’s bathrooms in North Carolina, Georgia, and other states, asserting things like “Your vote is secret” and “Your husband can’t know what you do in the voting booth.”
They welcome these signs, despite the fact that the message is in line with what Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said on Monday at a Harris event in Michigan: “If you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and never have to say a word to anyone.”
Regardless of all the talk that this year may see a flip in the 2016 and 2020 polling trends underestimating support for Trump, seedier Harris aides are not relying on their own “silent majority” of women and Republicans in deep-red areas or families who aren’t voicing their dissatisfaction with Trump.
But some Harris voters and even some on-the-ground operatives and volunteers are. They share tales of women in suburban neighborhoods informing door-knockers that they’re voting for Harris, even though none of their friends or neighbors are. Additionally, Republicans gathering at official events seem relieved to be in rooms where they’re not the only conservatives who’ve turned against Trump.
“The independents that I encountered are considering voting for Harris, which is a positive sign to me,” Nancy Quarles, who chairs the Oakland County Democratic Party in Michigan, told CNN last week heading into an appearance by the vice president in the Detroit suburbs. While a few years ago, those people would have been Republican voters, “there’s a massive opening, and they’re paying attention and being willing to listen to the discussions,” Quarles said.
Jennifer Norris, a healthcare analyst from rural Wahoo, Nebraska, and a former chair of the Saunders County Democrats, told CNN ahead of the Walz rally on Saturday that she has had her car vandalized by Trump supporters in the past. But at this point, “I know too many Republicans who won’t say it, but they’re ‘blue dots,’” she said, using the nickname for the Democratic concentration in the Omaha area, where one of Nebraska’s electoral votes is in play.
Blaine McKillip, a former client service manager turned property restorer in Omaha, mentioned during his introduction of Walz that he'd voted Republican in every presidential election since Reagan, except this year. However, he doubts many others will join him.
McKillip explained to CNN in the parking lot afterwards, a Harris-Walz camouflage hat in hand, "Ain't many of 'em got the guts to switch. They've chugged down so much Kool-Aid, they're as stuck as ticks to a hound." He also mentioned, "I'm just talkin' to the boys, ya know."
In Pennsylvania, where the campaign has focused heavily on attracting Republicans, US Rep. Chris Deluzio shared his belief with CNN, post-rallying with veterans at a campaign center, that these voters will eventually side with Harris.
Deluzio stated, "What we're gonna see in November is some ole-time Republicans and independents, maybe a little swayed. They ain't down with a fella like Trump callin' those January 6 convicts 'political prisoners.' They're ready to do their patriotic duty, keep our country steady, even if there's a policy divide."
Advisors to Harris aren't banking on any of these presumed silent majorities joining her cause without additional persuasive action. The campaign numbers, as shared by Plouffe, don't rely on these voters, though he left open the possibility that they could boost the win beyond current poll predictions.
"I'm pretty darn certain we're playin' it lowball here," Plouffe said, "so there's a decent chance we gonna get a bigger surprise than what the public or internal polls are showin' right now."
CNN's Alison Main contributed to this report.
To further divert public attention away from a potential second Trump term, political strategists are considering releasing more endorsements from well-known non-politicians, including entertainers and athletes, aimed at engaging disaffected voters. This tactic could potentially sway non-college-educated White women alienated by Trump, among other demographic groups.
Politics play a pivotal role in this strategy, as the aim is to portray a second Trump term as taking the country further away from its values and objectives, while Kamala Harris emerges as a suitable catalyst for change. By highlighting the perceived negative consequences of a second Trump presidency, the campaign hopes to garner support in key battleground states and secure the winning percentage necessary for victory.
