These are the types of questions that are usually asked of new candidates. But here Harris got it less than two weeks before the November 5 election and after millions of people had already voted. His response may underscore the challenge of campaigning for the White House.
“What time is it?” Harris laughed.
The truth is, not much.
A candidate’s most valuable resource is time, and from the start, Harris has historically been limited. The Democratic nominee has been running for just three months after Democratic President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and Harris is still facing voters who say they want to learn more about who he is or how he will govern.
His public events tend to go to rallies where the crowd rides the vibe and Harris gives a variation on the standard stump speech. In recent weeks, though, he has added events in more intimate settings, low-key church services and sit-down black box theaters where conversations can be more open. “I’ve lived life to the fullest,” Harris told the Michigan audience. “I’m a wife, I’m a mother, I’m a sister, I’m a godmother. I like to cook.” Harris, 60, is a relative newcomer to the national political scene.
Most of his career, as he often reminded voters, was outside Washington, in California as a state prosecutor and attorney general. That was followed by a four-year stint in the Senate and a fire in the 2020 race for the White House. His time as vice president boosted his profile, but not as much as a traditional candidate would at this stage in the race.
“Harris, by comparison, is still an unknown quantity as a candidate,” said Kevin Madden, a political strategist who has worked on three presidential campaigns. “It takes years to build a national profile that can withstand the brutality of a presidential campaign.”
Biden ran several times before winning the nomination and has three decades of public service on his resume, including eight years as vice president. Democrat Barack Obama began building his profile during John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004 and the midterm elections in 2006 before a two-year quest for what would be his first term in the White House. On the Republican side, the Bush family brand was built through multiple presidential campaigns over two decades.
“It’s always been a major challenge to build and run a unique presidential campaign for Harris in 108 days,” Madden said.
Republican Donald Trump, meanwhile, is a known quantity. He had near-universal name recognition even before the 2016 campaign, thanks to his time on reality television. He actually campaigned since losing the 2020 election to Biden – a fact he didn’t acknowledge until now.
For Harris and his assistants, the shortened campaign has presented both advantages and challenges. But there is no way to change the reality of that political timeline, they can only do the best they can.
That creates a series of very difficult choices: where to go, what to say, who to talk to. The challenge comes into focus in the final weeks of any campaign, but for Harris, they were the main feature of the sprint.
Helpers have created campaigns in various phases.
On opening day, Harris prioritized locking down the nomination and fending off potential challengers. Then he switched to trying to introduce himself in public. This means talking about his biography, but also the philosophy of his government, especially on economic issues, because potential voters complain that they do not know about him.
Along the way, he returned to Washington for tasks related to his office, trying to improve the government’s competence in responding to natural disasters and showing his national security credentials as he approached war abroad.
“It’s a bit of a steep hill for him to climb because of the race he’s cut, but he’s doing everything he can,” said Eric Schultz, who served as Obama’s deputy White House press secretary.
In recent weeks, Harris has spoken candidly about the summer Sundays when Biden dropped out of the race and gave the campaign the keys. He gave voters a new faith, wanting to use this important political moment as an opportunity to connect with voters.
“It was an extraordinary Sunday when the president called me, and instinctively I understood the gravity of the moment, the seriousness of the moment,” he said at a CNN town hall.
So she called her pastor, she said. “I need that spiritual connection, I need that advice, I need that prayer.” He added that he prays every day.
The event in suburban Detroit was one of three in the important Midwestern state last week where Harris, joined by Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican critic of Trump who has endorsed the Democrat, answered questions from moderators and an audience of undecided voters. This is a different version of the vice president than the one seen at the rally, more relaxed and conversational.
Rita Peterson, 48, said she came away impressed with Harris’ ability to connect.
“I think if you come from a place of happiness and you come from a place of wanting to work together to move forward, I think a lot of people want to be a part of it and want to move forward together.” she said.
The conversation with Cheney is intended to appeal to Republican voters, who are concerned about Trump’s second presidency, especially because of Trump’s failed attempt to cancel the 2020 election and after the violent riots in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when he beat supporters and bloodied law enforcement in the attempt to end the certification of Biden’s win.
In the closing days of her campaign, Harris drew a contrast with Trump. He will return to the site near the White House where Trump helped incite the crowd on January 6, already will crystalize for voters the battle between defending democracy and sowing political chaos.
He will give a speech at the Ellipse on Tuesday – a week before Election Day – to urge the nation to “turn the page.”
