The Harris Campaign Is Born

from New York Times I'm Michael Boro. this is the. [Music]. daily over the past 48 Hours as the. nomination of Vice President kamla. Harris went from theoretical to. inevitable she delivered the first. glimpse of what her campaign would look. like and sound like over the next 100. days today my colleague Reed Epstein on.

what exactly we've learned from her. [Music]. [Applause]. debut it's Thursday July. [Music]. 25th Reed it has been just one day since. you were on the show but that's a.

lifetime in this presidential campaign. so just to start catch us up on what's. happened to the vice president's. candidacy since you and I last. spoke well it seems like every few hours. that the Harris campaign announced she's. shattered some other fundraising. record the cash and the calls are. flooding in for vice president KLA. Harris the latest number on Wednesday. morning was that she' raised $126.

million since the campaign launched on. Sunday in just 3 days in less than three. days on her first full day in the race. the vice president securing the support. of the more than. 1976 delegates she would need to win the. Democratic nomination you know we have. seen the entire Democratic party Embrace. her so now that the process has played. out from the Grassroots bottom up we are. here today to throw our support behind.

vice president kamla Harris the only. holdouts in elected office when we last. spoke were the Democratic leaders of the. House and Senate Hakim Jeff and Chuck. Schumer of New York they have since. endorsed her the memeification of the. Harris campaign winner to overdrive. Sunday when singer Charlie XCX tweeted. kamla is brat and we've also seen sort. of a viral Onslaught mother has arrived. we need you to be malamala of the. country you think you just fell out of a.

coconut. tree and she's been part of the culture. almost immediately in a way that Barack. Obama did in 2008 Democrats everywhere. are feeling the commum is a powerful. thing for a democratic political. candidate and it's something that Joe. Biden never. had so at this point Reed Harris has the. money the delegates and the memes and.

the. question has been what would be the. message you know that's the question. we'd all been asking and we first. started to get our answers on Tuesday. afternoon when she traveled to the. Milwaukee suburb of West Dallas. Wisconsin for her first rally as the. Democratic deao nominee West Dallas is a. Swing City and a swing state and the. part of.

the country where she will have to do. well if she is going to defeat Donald. Trump in November uh this was an event. that had already been on the books for. her before Biden stepped aside when she. was running as the vice presidential. candidate once she became the. presidential candidate they had to move. it to a larger venue wound up being in a. 3800 seat high school gymnasium and it. drew attendees from out of state to come. see her which was really not something. that ever happened for Joe Biden so when.

I tuned in to watch Harris speak on. Tuesday afternoon I wanted to see what. her message was going to be and how it. looked and how she presented herself as. the presidential candidate because it. wasn't just important what she said but. really how she said it and what the. campaign wanted her to look like saying. it okay so take us to this rally and. this speech that Harris gives in this. high school gymnasium you know the first.

thing you noticed was the crowd which. was much bigger than any Joe Biden event. on this campaign and very loud please. welcome Governor Tony. iers you could see watching the warm-up. speakers that there was more noise in. the room than there had been for any. Biden event I love all of you thank you. whis. our colleague who was in The Press area.

was saying that his ears hurt even. before Harris took the stage there were. women in the audience with homemade. glasses with coconuts taped to them. coconuts is sort of part of the meme. language around haris right comes from a. speech in which she talks about how her. mom always asked her and her siblings. did you fall out of a coconut tree yeah. and so this was really a moment of. collective enthusiasm for Democrats that. they had not participated in in more.

than 4 years and now it is my distinct. honor to introduce the first woman. elected vice president of the United. States. and the next president of the United. States kamla. Harris Harris comes to the stage and the. crowd is deafening it's you could tell. even watching on TV how loud it was.

[Applause]. thank. you thank. you and she starts with her effectively. taking the torch from Joe Biden so. Milwaukee I want to start by saying a. few words and I could really speak at. length but a few words about our. incredible President Joe. Biden she said say that it's been an.

honor to work with him and to serve with. him Joe's Legacy of accomplishment over. his entire career and over the past. three and a half years is unmatched in. modern history he says that he's done. more in one term than most presidents. have done in two and talks about how she. and other Democrats are grateful for his. career of service to the country and it. is my great honor to have Joe Biden's. endorsement in this race.

right as I watched that read I saw a. very new nominee navigating a pretty. delicate situation which is she wants to. project gratitude to Biden and respect. for him while also starting to turn the. page away from him yeah and it's tricky. because everyone in the party and in the. country has lived through you know not. just the last 48 hours at this point but.

the last month since his abysmal debate. performance she has to reconcile all. these feelings and this experience that. everyone in the party has gone through. with Joe Biden while also pivoting to. what's next and placing herself at the. center of the party as it's candidate to. run for president before I was elected a. United States Senator I was elected. Attorney General of the State of. California and I was a courtroom.

prosecutor before then so what she does. next is she starts to try to Define. herself which she does in opposition to. Donald Trump I took on perpetrators of. all kinds she speaks about the types of. people that she investigated and. prosecuted Predators who Abused. women. frauders who ripped off. consumers and the Capstone of this of. her speech is she says so hear me when I.

say I know Donald Trump's. type I know Donald Trump's. [Applause]. type and it's a thing that Joe Biden. never could really do because his life. didn't set him up to be quite so. oppositional to trumps not to mention. his age and diminished capacity as a.

public speaker made him incapable of. delivering that kind of. message and Wisconsin this campaign is. also about two different Visions for our. nation and so that what we hear next. from her well we are focused on the. future the other focused on the past is. this real contrast between not just. herself and Trump but a policy contrast. between Democrats and Republicans we.

believe in a future where every person. has the opportunity not just to get by. but to get. ahead and here is where you get sort of. the traditional laundry list of policies. from her where every worker has the. freedom to join a union that all sort of. touch the erogenous zones of democratic. voters and Consultants because they. frankly pull very well where every.

person has Affordable Health. Care affordable child. care and paid family. leave all of these phrases are things. that you hear Democratic candidates up. and down the ballot talk about but Biden. just could not quite say them in the. right order in a way that people. believed but Donald Trump wants to take.

our country backward and then she delves. into the Trump policies which Democrats. have been begging voters to listen to. for much of the past year he and his. extreme project 2025. agenda will weaken the middle class like. we know we got to take this seriously. and can you believe they put that thing. in writing she talks about project 2.

which is a 900 page policy document that. some of Trump's allies have put together. in anticipation of him becoming the. president again and Compares that. to the vision that Democrats have for. the future she talks about gun control. laws background checks and the key part. of this and we who believe in. reproductive. freedom is when she talks about.

abortion will stop Donald Trump's. extreme abortion bans. because we trust women to make decisions. about their own. body and not have their government tell. them what to. do which is another thing that Biden was. very uncomfortable doing he rarely said. the word abortion he would always couch. it in language about choice or. reproductive Freedom or or or whatnot.

and that was because we sensed his. Catholic religion kind of made him. reluctant to talk in an overly. supportive way about abortion right. right and he was and is an 81-year-old. Catholic white man who you know grew up. in a different time when the politics on. abortion were different and Harris is. much more of a creature of modern day. Democratic Politics on this issue. she's able to speak about abortion in a.

clearer and more concise way than Biden. has ever been able to I'm curious read. how in this speech. Harris touched on or in any way. acknowledged the historic nature of her. candidacy something very much on. people's minds right now yeah I mean. this was another thing to watch for. because clearly this is part of the. undertone of all the enthusiasm about. her she would be the first woman. president she would be the first first. black woman president she would be the.

first South Asian. President and she doesn't have to. articulate those things herself the. shoulders on which we stand generations. of Americans before us led the fight for. freedom and now Wisconsin the Baton is. in our. hands but what she talked about in the. speech was about standing on the. shoulders of generations of Americans.

before her leading the fight to Freedom. you know she's talking about. abolitionists and suffragists but she. doesn't have to use those words because. the people in the Democratic party that. she's talking to know what she means we. who believe in the sacred freedom to. vote will make sure every American has. the ability to cast their ballot and. have it. counted that it is their responsibility. ility to win the election to continue to.

advance civil rights and voting rights. not just in Wisconsin but across the. country so she's placing herself in a. Continuum that dates back centuries for. racial Justice and Justice for women. right and but she's talking about it in. the context of voting rights which is a. very important issue locally in. Wisconsin where they've had uh. innumerable fights about voting access. over the last 15 years and so it it. works both as a line speaking to.

Democrats across the country and a line. that the people in the room will. understand applies to them specifically. right and it feels like as with Harris's. ability to speak as a prosecutor when. she talks about Trump her ability to. talk about racial Justice is something. that Joe Biden cannot do as naturally. because his biography isn't the same. asers yeah and this like abortion too. this is just much more person for her. than it ever has been for Biden Reed how.

does this speech ultimately end I mean. it ends like it began with contrast. between her and Trump so Wisconsin. ultimately in this election we each face. a. question what kind of country do we want. to live in she asks the audience and the. listeners if they want freedom. compassion and the rule of law or chaos. fear and hate which she ascribes to. Trump.

and here's the beauty of this moment we. each have the power to answer that. question the power is with the people we. each have the power to answer that. question and she reminds Democrats that. are watching that they have a limited. time to make this reality that she's. envisioning happen so Wisconsin today I. ask you are you ready to get to work.

do we believe in. Freedom do we believe in. Opportunity do we believe in the promise. of. America and are we ready to fight for. it and when we fight we win God bless. you and it ends in this big finish and. another rockus Ovation for her as she. walks off the stage to be. [Music].

[Applause]. OB when the speech was over read I wrote. down a bunch of adjectives really. quickly on my computer in my little. notes file you know and the words were. I'm just going to read them to you. Punchy loud Lucid energetic tight right. and not to beat a dead horse here but. those are not words that. apply to a Joe Biden speech yeah you. know when the speech ended I got a text. from from uh a person who is helping to.

elect Joe Biden and now is helping to. elect KL Harris who just expressed their. own astonishment at what it was like to. watch a campaign speech where they. didn't have to worry about the candidate. falling down and about how much their. own expectations had been diminished by. years of watching. Biden and seeing a candidate who brought. just as totally different energ. it gave Democrats a reason to be hopeful.

and a reason to be proud of their. candidate in a way that they hadn't had. since the beginning of the Biden. [Music]. campaign we'll be right back. [Music].

so Reed I want to talk about what wasn't. in this first kamla Harris rally as de. facto nominee and what that may reveal. about the challenges that she faces. despite all the enthusiasm all the money. all the endorsements all the. delegates right she didn't talk about. two of the biggest challenges she's. going to face and frankly were two of.

the biggest challenges that Joe Biden. faced the economy which includes. inflation and immigration of the border. right let's start with economy and. immigration I mean I noticed that Harris. did not mention the word economy or for. that matter inflation once in the speech. so you know Michael the first rule of. campaigning is you want to talk about. issues that are good for you and not. issues that are good for your opponent. and that's what this was about so. to do that she talked about abortion.

rights and gun control and comparing. herself to Donald Trump and avoided. issues that polls show voters prefer. Republicans and Trump on like. immigration and the economy and that. really is the calculus that went into. the issues that she addressed and the. issues that she didn't. address well let's talk about why she. wouldn't want to talk about the economy. at all because as we've talked about on. the show read you know there's a lot.

that happened under Biden in the. American economy that is pretty good for. the Democrats unemployment is really low. there's been a lot of job creation. especially if you take the data back to. the moment Biden takes office after the. pandemic but there is of course the. problem of inflation going up in part. because of Biden's response to the. inflation all that stimulus spending so. you're saying that there's no version of. a threaded needle that Harris wants to. even attempt when it comes to the.

economy well they do have an economic. story to tell the problem is voters. don't believe it you know we have seen. this over and over again when Joe Biden. tried to tell his economic record that. voters just did not buy it and so this. is an issue where you know the campaign. is operating at some level without. regard to the actual situation on the. ground and more to what voters feel.

about it got it and voters never really. forgave Biden for the inflation that the. country saw as Biden helped Drive the. country out of the pandemic and that has. stuck to him ever since even. though the rate of inflation has slowed. substantially the prices are not below. where they were four years ago at the. start of the pandemic and that no matter. what the Biden Administration and Biden.

campaign have tried to do to explain. that to people they just never bought. into it and it inflation remains a very. difficult issue for Democrats to explain. and to campaign on because they started. so far behind and and frankly voters. have said they do not believe them on. this right so Nuance may not be her. friend when it comes to talking about. the economy and so she'll just not talk. about it as much as she again let's turn. to.

immigration and the reason why the vice. president didn't talk about it in the. speech and how she will eventually talk. about it if she decides she needs to and. I suspect at some point she will need. to yeah I mean eventually she will talk. about it you know it's certain to come. up if she and Donald Trump wind up on a. debate stage together she will be asked. about it in interviews should she submit. to them but I do not anticipate. you know big Applause lines for her on.

immigration in these dump speeches at. her campaign Ries it's just a Frau issue. that is not great for Democrats it often. is without regard to any of the data on. the ground about whether border. crossings have slowed or any sort of. metric that you want to take that might. show an improving situation at the. border for Biden is just not something. that has sunk in with voters and she.

doesn't have very much time left in this. campaign to explain that and so what we. have seen in the early returns of her as. a presidential candidate is not. addressing it well let's assume that KLA. Harris keeps giving this stump speech. and keeps energizing room after room. after room of Democrats and maybe even. some Republicans who show up and are.

very interested in her because they have. concerns about Trump you know and she. navigates her way around immigration and. the economy in this hund and so days. left in the campaign perhaps that will. end up being. enough you know Michael as energizing as. the speech was and as jazzed as. Democrats around the country were by it. she still faces a ton of challenges as. the presidential candidate it's not just. the message it's getting the message out.

what do you mean well the Biden campaign. was built around an 81-year-old. candidate who to this point had given. campaign rallies once or twice a week he. was in his Delaware home every weekend. and it was not a very high energy. operation it's not built for a. 59-year-old candidate who wants to get. out there as much as she can and frankly.

needs to get out there as much as she. can to introduce herself to voters. around the country H so she needs to. repeat that kind of. speech multiple times a week from now. until November you know if you remember. when Barack Obama was campaigning for. president he would do three states a day. sometimes right and that's the kind of. pace that they need to ramp up to for. her and there's no evidence to date.

because just because they haven't done. it that the Biden campaign as. constituted now is able to pull that off. I just want to be clear on what you're. saying that KLA Harris is a different. candidate from Biden different. metabolism and based on where things are. in the polls she needs to be doing a lot. more than Biden ever was if she perhaps. could get to something like two or three. events a day but the worry is that the. Biden campaign is literally not equipped. with the people and the protocols to. make that happen because putting on that.

many events a day is logistically just. an enormous undertaking that a campaign. either is or isn't designed for yeah and. I don't want to bmch the people who work. for the Biden campaign of incapable of. doing this I'm just saying that they. haven't done it yet we haven't seen that. they're able to do it uh they may well. be capable of doing it but it will be. new to them and given where they are in. the polls right now the Harris campaign. has to get her out there they have to.

get as much visibility on her from. voters in the key States and get her in. different TV markets in Pittsburgh in. Detroit in Milwaukee in Atlanta and. sometimes many of those places in the. same day so that people can hear her. message both about her own campaign and. about Donald Trump right it's. interesting that you mention those swing. States because that's where I want to. turn now we've been talking about what. was in the speech what wasn't in the. speech the logistics of getting that.

message out but a really important. question I have to think is what is the. Harris as nominee plan to win the swing. voter in the swing states that you just. mentioned the Wisconsin's Michigan. Pennsylvania given how forceful a. message Donald Trump and JD Vance are. delivering on that front right they're. talking about economic and social. populism tariffs China ripping off. America the Forgotten working man those.

are all directed to those swing voters. in the midwest in those States Harris is. telling a story for sure in this first. couple of days but it's not that story. it's a story about how she is good and. looking to the Future and Trump is bad. and taking the country backward and so. that leaves me wondering whether there. is a strong winning message from from. Harris that is emerging or will soon.

emerge for this key group of Voters in. these key States well we are going to. see as she does more and more events you. know one thing that you hear from her. people in her. campaign is sort of a subtle idea that. she may change the demographics of who. is a democratic voter you know we've. already seen an extraordinary amount of. excitement for her among black women. there were 50,000 people on a zoom call.

Sunday night an organizing call for a. group called win with black women we've. seen some evidence that she performs. better among black and Latino voters. that young people are more interested in. coming to vote now that she's on the. ticket than Biden and so that may alter. the Dynamics a little bit from where. they were with Joe Biden on the ticket. and so she may not need to engage on you. know issues like tariffs and some of the.

things that Trump is talking about on a. as an issue stance if she's able to. energize voters who might have stayed. home or not been interested in in Biden. if she can build a little bit more out. of that Obama Coalition and still hold. on to some of these moderate voters who. are repelled by Trump like that is a. recipe ree that can lead a democratic.

ticket to win it's not a guarantee you. know there is some fear that that she. may not do as well with older white. voters that were partial to Biden and so. we are going to see as more polling. results come in how it changes with her. at top the ticket from Joe Biden got it. and that is the Playbook it sounds like. we saw KL Harris begin to pursue with. this speech that we've spent this. episode talking to you about she's. fighting on different demographic. terrain than Trump that's deliberate in.

other words we shouldn't spend too much. time thinking about what wasn't in this. speech because what was in the speech is. quite revealing about strategy as well. you know Michael the Republican ticket. Donald Trump and JD Vance are making an. economic and cultural argument to their. voters and the polling suggest that they. are winning at the moment but Harris is. making her own cultural argument to. voters and it's about young people and. people of color and being cool and hip.

in a way that Barack Obama was when he. first ran for office and she's trying to. recreate that energy from 2008 and the. early return suggests that she is a. reasonable fact simile of that it. remains to be seen how long she and her. team can sustain that and it's going to. be a lot of work for them because they. are losing at the moment and Trump has. buil in advantages in the Electoral.

College and so they will need to get a. lot of these people who had been sour on. Joe Biden to come out and vote for. her and we'll see if they're able to do. that but so far in the first couple days. she by all accounts is off to a terrific. start she has raised an enormous amount. of money she has people in the party. excited about her they are. collectively moved on from Joe Biden.

without any evident. bitterness and she has United the party. in a rapid amount of. time to move forward into the general. election which is quite the feet given. where everything was just a couple of. days. ago or read thank you very much thank. you Michael. [Music].

my fellow. Americans I'm speaking to you tonight. from behind the Resolute desk in the. Oval Office in an 11-minute speech on. Wednesday night President Biden. explained his decision to end his. campaign for reelection and endorse. kamla Harris as his replacement saying. that it was necessary to pass the torch. to a new generation you know there is a. time and a place for long years of. experience in public life there's also a.

time and a place for new voices fresh. voices yes younger voices in that time. and place is. now we'll be right. back Mr Speaker the prime minister of. the state of Israel.

here's what else you need to know today. Mr. Speaker I want to thank you for giving. me the profound honor of addressing this. great Citadel of democracy for the. fourth time in a speech on Wednesday to. a joint meeting of Congress Israeli. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. forcefully defended his country's. military campaign in Gaza praised both. President Biden and former president. Trump for their support and described.

Israel's deadly war against Hamas as a. necessary fight between good and evil. this is not a clash of. civilizations it's a clash between. barbarism in. Civilization it's a clash between those. who glorify death and those who sanctify. life Netanyahu pointedly scolded Pro. Palestinian protesters in the United.

States thousands of whom demonstrated. against his visit in Washington. incredibly many many anti-israel. protesters many choose to stand with. evil they stand with. Hamas they stand with rapists and. murderers they should be ashamed of. themselves and he warned that Israel's. battle against Hamas and the country. that finances it Iran was America's. battle. as well my friends if you remember one.

thing one thing from the speech remember. this our enemies are your enemies our. fight is your fight and our Victory will. be your. [Applause]. Victory today's episode was produced by. Luke Vander plug on the chuv and relle. Banja it was edited by Mark George with.

help from Rachel quer contains original. music by Mar and Lozano and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben lansberg of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael. Boro see you tomorrow.