Ground Game: Harris eyes the debate, 'joy' as campaign message, Walz the teacher (2024)

Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly taunted former President Donald Trump’s seeming reluctance to debate her. Now that a Sept. 10 matchup is set, sharing a stage with Trump presents a critical choice for Harris to define herself and her opponent in a truncated campaign, and it also sets up a major test – one that President Joe Biden failed badly enough that he ended his campaign and made way for her.

Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game.

A former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, Harris has long presented her debating prowess as a strength, and her sharp questioning of opponents has produced many a career highlight. But she has also had testy exchanges that didn’t play as well.

Perhaps the pinnacle of Harris' short-lived 2020 presidential campaign was a broadside against Biden, who later made her his running mate anyway. She seized on Biden opposing busing to integrate public schools in the 1970s by describing a young girl who boarded such buses before offering, “That little girl was me.”

But a low moment of Harris' same campaign came at a subsequent debate. Another rival, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, launched a lengthy attack on Harris' prosecutorial record and further accused her of having “blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so." Read more.

Of note:

Trump faces high expectations too. And Biden's disastrous performance helped obscure that the former president delivered many falsehoods – from the Jan. 6 riot to abortion and immigration — that went unchecked during the debate.

• Latinos are excited about Harris, but she has work to do to win the crucial voting bloc, experts say
• Harris pledges to work to end taxes on tips for service industry employees, echoing Trump vow

At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz turned to Harris and declared, “Thank you for bringing back the joy.” The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket “joyful warriors.”

Contrast that with Trump, who opened a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida a few days later by saying, “We have a lot of bad things coming up," and predicting the U.S. could fall into an economic depression unseen since the dark days of 1929 or even another world war.

Democrats are playing up their sunnier outlook, promoting the idea that voters can be inspired to support someone and not just cast their ballot against the other side. The Trump campaign argues their candidate is reflecting the dour mood of the country and dismisses the idea that a growing contrast in tone and upbeat attitude will decide the presidency. Read more.

Of note:

Two-thirds of Americans reported feeling very or somewhat pessimistic about the state of politics, according to polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from last month. Roughly 7 in 10 said things in the country are heading in the wrong direction.

• Early Harris-Walz rallies feature big crowds, talk of ‘joy’ and unsolicited GOP counterprogramming
• Trump is putting mass deportations at the heart of his campaign. Some Republicans are worried
• Trump campaign projects confidence and looks to young male voters for an edge on Harris

In introducing Walz as her running mate, Harris shared the story of how, as a high school world geography teacher, Walz offered to be the faculty adviser for students starting a Gay-Straight Alliance.

According to Jacob Reitan, a student at the Minnesota high school where Walz and his wife taught, there was surprisingly little blowback; a few parents called and threatened to keep their kids out of school, he said, but the principal at the time simply replied that the school would mark those students absent.

The backing of the football team’s defensive coordinator — a straight, married man and soldier in the Army National Guard – gave the plans a boost. But, Reitan said, that’s how Walz treated all students.

“He had the ability to talk about issues of bullying in a way that helped both the bully and the bullier,” Reitan said. “He made clear that bullying makes no sense. It doesn’t help anybody. And it made the school safer for me.” Read more.

Of note:

Walz’s advocacy for the LGBTQ community has not been met with universal approval in the days since he joined the ticket. Some Republican elected officials and conservative commentators have cited his opposition to bans on gender affirming care for minors as proof that he is too liberal to be vice president.

• Walz ‘misspoke’ in 2018 reference to ‘weapons of war, that I carried in war,’ Harris campaign says
• A win for the Harris-Walz ticket would also mean the country’s first Native American female governor

• On Monday, Harris records video remarks for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ 46th International Convention.
• Trump plans a live interview Monday night with Elon Musk on X. On Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to give remarks on the economy during an event in Asheville, North Carolina.
• Vance campaigns in Byron Center, Michigan, on Wednesday.

• Harris and Biden head to Maryland on Thursday for an official event, their first joint trip since she became Democrats’ standard-bearer.

Trump’s campaign said Saturday that it has been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents. Read more.

Harris hasn’t given an interview and has barely engaged with reporters since becoming the Democratic choice to replace Biden. That’s about to change, now that it has become a campaign issue. Read more.

Holding on in Hawaii: Sen. Mazie Hirono wins Democratic primary for third term, will face McDermott in general

Ohio overtures: Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Bernie Moreno faults rival for distancing himself from Harris