Democrats' Harris-Walz Ticket

Ryan Heshmati

August 9, 2024

Kamala Harris is having an excellent week. After announcing Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate, the money poured in. Alana Wise of NPR reports “Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign announced Thursday it had raised $36 million in the first 24 hours since announcing Harris’ pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.” Further, polling data that would have concerned the Trump campaign has become much worse for them. All this begs the question, what does the Harris-Walz ticket have in store for the country moving into November?

First, let’s take a look at current polling. Reuters’ Jason Lange notes a recent August 2nd to 7th Ipsos poll that put Harris ahead of Trump by five percentage points (42% to 37%), with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. down at 4%. This is a major reversal of fortune for Former President Trump, who had previously been riding high on the prospect of rematching unpopular incumbent President Biden. Now, the momentum appears to be continuing with Harris, seriously threatening Trump’s prospects for victory.

Vice President Harris has made some reversals on policy from her 2020 presidential bid, notably on banning fracking and Medicare for all. Perhaps the ostensibly newly moderate Harris realized that the extremely progressive positions she took in the past would not aid her with undecided and independent voters. Consequently, Harris is presenting more moderately, likely selecting Walz to further that presentation.

With the September 10th presidential debate coming up, it will be important to see how Harris responds to criticisms of contradictory statements from 2020 undermining 2024 campaign commitments. It would not be surprising if the Trump campaign, similar to the 2004 “flip flop” attacks on John Kerry,  pushes heavily on Harris’ switches on fracking and Medicare for all; thus, Harris’ approach to such attacks could end up proving very important.

Another interesting angle in examining the Harris campaign is her rhetoric on the Biden administration. Especially since Biden’s decision to end his re-election bid, Democrats have praised President Biden and his administration, ignoring potentially major weaknesses that Harris could be held to answer for.

Of course, Vice President Harris will likely need to make abortion a major, if not the defining, issue of her 2024 campaign. While the Dobbs decision achieved the long-held conservative goal of overturning Roe, it has also made abortion politically poisonous for Republicans appealing to those outside the Republican pro-life tent. If Harris effectively keeps abortion rights in the forefront of voters’ minds in November, Trump will have yet another serious problem to combat. 

The election has heated up. With the Harris-Walz ticket taking Trump-Vance head-on at the moment, where the race will stand in November is unclear. The Harris-Walz ticket, presumably a move to attract moderate voters, will have a majortest on September 10th with the debate between Vice President Harris and Former President Trump. How Harris and Trump spar over her past comments, connection to the Biden administration, and policy priorities will be important to watch. Until then, however, life is looking good for the Harris campaign.