![\"Vice](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/22\/multimedia\/22pol-trump-harris-matchup-topart-bmtg\/22pol-trump-harris-matchup-topart-bmtg-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale\")
By Nicholas Nehamas<\/a> and Katie Glueck<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicholas Nehamas reported from Washington, and Katie Glueck from New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 22, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u9605\u8bfb\u7b80\u4f53\u4e2d\u6587\u7248<\/a>\u95b1\u8b80\u7e41\u9ad4\u4e2d\u6587\u7248<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n From the beginning of President Biden\u2019s ill-fated re-election bid, Democrats struggled to frame the race as a choice between two radically different visions, rather than a referendum on Mr. Biden\u2019s age and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But now that he has dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris is cruising toward the Democratic nomination<\/a>, her party sees fresh opportunities to turn the public\u2019s attention back to the vulnerabilities of former President Donald J. Trump on key issues for voters, including abortion rights, fundamental democratic principles and questions of economic fairness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats hope that Ms. Harris \u2014 a history-making former prosecutor who is nearly two decades younger than Mr. Trump \u2014 can draw a sharp new set of contrasts and tap into arguments that were out of reach for Mr. Biden, 81, starting with the issue of age but extending into matters of policy and personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is especially clear on abortion rights. Mr. Biden, a practicing Catholic, has long been uncomfortable discussing the issue, or\u00a0even saying the word<\/a>\u00a0\u201cabortion.\u201d Ms. Harris, by contrast, speaks easily and openly about reproductive health and has held campaign events alongside women sharing their stories of miscarriages, abortions and challenges with fertility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans, for their part, plan to argue that Ms. Harris still owns the unpopular parts of Mr. Biden\u2019s record, saying that she is also weak on issues like inflation and immigration. Polling has shown<\/a>Mr. Trump with significant advantages on many of the most important issues for voters, other than abortion rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in interviews, Democrats were eager to make the race about character and experience, noting Ms. Harris\u2019s law enforcement background and Mr. Trump\u2019s litany of legal problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe is a former prosecutor and he is a convicted felon,\u201d said Marcia L. Fudge, a former housing secretary in the Biden administration who said she had spoken with Ms. Harris on Sunday. \u201cIf there ever was a huge choice, this is it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Biden\u2019s miserable debate performance late last month stole the spotlight from Mr. Trump\u2019s 34-count felony conviction in Manhattan. Many Democrats had hoped Mr. Trump\u2019s criminal status could be used to their advantage, but that line of attack was put on hold as Mr. Biden tried to quell the Democratic revolt against his candidacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats are now moving to renew it, casting Ms. Harris as the \u201crule of law\u201d candidate and hammering home the fact that the twice-impeached Mr. Trump sought to overturn the results of a free election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat is particularly important, especially in this case, is her history as a prosecutor \u2014 someone who has stood for law and order,\u201d said Representative Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat who served as a co-chair of Mr. Biden\u2019s campaign. Mr. Trump, she added, is \u201ca convicted criminal, who not just violates the law, but believes very firmly that the law does not apply to him and his supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before being elected to the Senate in 2016, Ms. Harris served as the district attorney of San Francisco and the attorney general of California. She sometimes\u00a0struggled to discuss<\/a>\u00a0her history in law enforcement and matters of criminal justice during her 2020 presidential campaign, when many Democrats were pushing to rein in the powers of the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But she relishes bringing up those roles on the campaign trail now, and her allies say she will try to wield them against Mr. Trump as she makes the case that he is unfit to return to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs many of you know, I am a former prosecutor, so I say: Let\u2019s look at the facts, shall we?\u201d Ms. Harris said to roars from a crowd in North Carolina last week before dissecting the policy differences between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said the vice president would press her \u201ccontrast\u201d with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVice President Kamala Harris has held criminals accountable her entire career \u2014 and Donald Trump will be no different,\u201d Mr. Moussa said in a statement. \u201cVice President Harris has dedicated her career to making life better for working people \u2014 while Trump only cares about himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, tried to undermine Ms. Harris\u2019s credentials by accusing her of embracing \u201cpro-criminal, soft-on-crime policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Updated <\/p>\n\n\n\n July 23, 2024, 7:02 a.m. ET1 hour ago1 hour ago<\/p>\n\n\n\n While worries about public safety have been galvanizing in some elections, no issue has energized Ms. Harris, or Democratic voters, more than abortion rights. The issue has fueled a spate of Democratic victories in recent years, and helped Ms. Harris recover her political footing<\/a> after a shaky start to her term as vice president. Ms. Harris says she has appeared at nearly 100 events on reproductive rights since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis election will be won on abortion rights and there is no one better to make the case to voters,\u201d said Jessica Mackler, the president of Emily\u2019s List, which supports Democratic female candidates who back abortion rights. The group has fiercely defended Ms. Harris and has\u00a0used polls to test messaging<\/a>\u00a0about her political strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its research, Ms. Mackler said, found that highlighting Ms. Harris\u2019s work on abortion rights \u201cwill turn out the voters we need to win in November \u2014 young voters, women and voters of color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abortion access was top of mind on Sunday as Ms. Harris and her staff made the case to other Democrats that they should back her, according to a list of talking points used to outline those conversations that was reviewed by The New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Harris is the party\u2019s \u201cleading messenger\u201d on abortion rights, according to the document, and will make certain that Mr. Trump\u2019s role in overturning Roe \u201cis front and center in this election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When talking to voters about the issue, Ms. Harris often strives to make it personal. recounting how she was motivated to become a prosecutor after learning in high school that her best friend was being molested by her stepfather. This year, she became the highest-ranking federal official to visit an abortion clinic<\/a>. She has slammed abortion restrictions in red states as \u201cTrump abortion bans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe believe in freedom,\u201d Ms. Harris said last week at an event in Michigan. \u201cFreedom from the government telling us what to do about matters of heart and home. We believe in the right of people to make basic decisions like when and if they will start a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her messaging on abortion has been far clearer than that of Mr. Biden, who supports abortion rights but\u00a0struggled<\/a>\u00a0to articulate his position at the debate last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans, for their part, are hoping to blur any policy differences between Ms. Harris and Mr. Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Harris\u2019s \u201cdismal record is one of complete failure and utter incompetence,\u201d Mr. Cheung said. \u201cHer policies are Biden\u2019s policies, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even before Mr. Biden dropped out<\/a>, the Trump campaign had a plan to attack Ms. Harris if she became the nominee: tie her to the most unpopular parts of the president\u2019s record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the Republican National Convention last week, speaker after speaker misleadingly referred<\/a> to Ms. Harris as the Biden administration\u2019s \u201cborder czar.\u201d They argued that the large numbers of undocumented migrants crossing into the United States were her fault. Polls have shown that voters give Mr. Biden low marks for his handling of the border crisis, although Democrats have criticized Mr. Trump for persuading Republican lawmakers to walk away<\/a> from a bipartisan immigration deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inflation has also bedeviled Mr. Biden. Although cost increases have slowed and the causes of inflation are complex<\/a>, Republicans have squarely blamed the president and his policies for rising prices. Voters say they are unhappy with Mr. Biden\u2019s stewardship of the economy, and negative views of inflation have helped sap his support<\/a> from Black and Hispanic voters, both crucial parts of the Democratic coalition. As Mr. Biden\u2019s partner in government, Ms. Harris will have to overcome that glum mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d take the next three weeks and hang the Biden White House\u2019s failures on her,\u201d said David Kochel, a Republican strategist based in Iowa. \u201cMost people think the country is going in the wrong direction<\/a>. They need to place her right in the middle of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans wasted no time starting their attacks. On Monday, the Trump campaign said in an email that \u201cKamala Harris is Joe Biden 2.0.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And less than an hour after Mr. Biden dropped out, the leading pro-Trump super PAC\u00a0posted an ad<\/a>\u00a0on X saying Ms. Harris had \u201ccovered up\u201d the president\u2019s \u201cmental decline\u201d and was responsible for his \u201cfailed record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLook what she got done,\u201d the ad\u2019s female narrator says. \u201cA border invasion. Runaway inflation. The American dream, dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Ms. Harris\u2019s supporters were working to turn the tables on Mr. Trump at every turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Erin Wilson, the vice president\u2019s White House deputy chief of staff, said in a call on Sunday with the group Win With Black Women that Ms. Harris would use her skills as a prosecutor to lace into Mr. Trump, who at 78 is only three years younger than Mr. Biden, and use his age against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Left unsaid: That argument had been impossible for Democrats to make with Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kate Kelly\u00a0and\u00a0Reid J. Epstein\u00a0contributed reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com<\/a>.Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicholas Nehamas<\/a> is a Times political reporter covering the re-election campaign of President Biden. More about Nicholas Nehamas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Katie Glueck<\/a>\u00a0covers American politics with a focus on the Democratic Party.\u00a0More about Katie Glueck<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n See more on:\u00a0Kamala Harris<\/a>,\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>,\u00a0President Joe Biden<\/a>,\u00a0Democratic Party<\/a>,\u00a02024 Elections<\/a>,\u00a0U.S. Politics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Democrats are eager for her to deploy lines of attack that come more naturally than they did for President Biden, including on issues like abortion rights and the rule of law. By Nicholas Nehamas and Katie Glueck Nicholas Nehamas reported from Washington, and Katie Glueck from New York. July 22, 2024 \u9605\u8bfb\u7b80\u4f53\u4e2d\u6587\u7248\u95b1\u8b80\u7e41\u9ad4\u4e2d\u6587\u7248 From the beginning of President Biden\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15516,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15515\/revisions\/15516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kamala](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/22\/multimedia\/22pol-trump-harris-matchup-prosecutor-qfkl\/22pol-trump-harris-matchup-prosecutor-qfkl-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale\")
2024 Election: Live Updates<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Kamala](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/22\/multimedia\/22pol-trump-harris-matchup-abortion-fvkg\/22pol-trump-harris-matchup-abortion-fvkg-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale\")
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