Harris is attempting a “last-ditch” sprint to redefine herself before the election

As former President Donald Trump and other Republicans criticize her record and policy proposals on these issues, Harris and her campaign are trying to go on the offensive and proactively counter the concerns, including with a trip to the border on Friday.

Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket in July, Harris appears to be aware of public perception of her, especially when it comes to immigration and the border, as Republicans increasingly want to brand her as Biden’s ‘border czar’. And polls show that voters trust Trump more in the policy portfolio.

Defended not only by her White House and campaign spokespeople but also through millions of dollars in advertising, Harris has also tried to defend herself, starting at one of her first major rallies of the summer.

“I was the attorney general of a border state,” Harris said in Georgia in July. “I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers who entered our country illegally. I prosecuted them case after case, and I won.”

But amid complaints about her lack of travel to the border, Harris heads to Douglas, Arizona, on Friday to emphasize the importance of border security and how she continues to support the bipartisan border security agreement that Trump refused to endorse “for political purposes.” ,” said a Harris campaign official.

Harris plans to “argue that American sovereignty requires establishing and enforcing rules at the border,” “that Border Patrol agents, whom she will visit Friday, need more resources to do their jobs,” and that “fighting the flow of fentanyl into the country across the border” will be a priority of her presidency,” the campaign official said.

“She also intends to reject the false choice between securing the border and creating an immigration system that is safe, orderly and humane – arguing that we must protect both our country’s security and its lasting legacy as a nation of immigrants need to protect,” he said.

The Harris campaign has a new border ad that will also air in battleground states starting Friday.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign remains skeptical of Harris’ border trip, claiming, “Kamala’s last-ditch photo underlines her humiliating desperation.”

“Kamala Harris cannot rewrite history because Americans have been suffering for 3 1/2 years, including the families of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin and Jocelyn Nungaray, who were brutally raped and murdered by migrant criminals whom ‘Border Czar’ Harris welcomed with promises of mass amnesty and public benefits,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Anna Kelly Washington Examiner.

“Inflation is crushing family budgets, the border is wide open and violent crime is destroying our neighborhoods,” Kelly said. “Harris is fooling no one – her pro-criminal, anti-security policies have brought death and destruction to communities across the country, and only President Trump can make America great again.”

The Harris campaign denies that Biden broadly delegated border control to the vice president, claiming her responsibilities were to address the root causes of migration.

But according to Kelly, Harris’ border trip on Friday comes after her remarks Wednesday to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh announcing a $100 billion tax break for manufacturers, and her speech at the White House Thursday on Biden’s gun decision, days after she and the president used positive crime statistics from the FBI, citing the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. For example, in 2023 there was an 11.6% decrease in homicide and negligent homicide compared to the previous year.

Harris’ economic and crime-focused public appearances were amplified by interviews, including her first solo conversation on the cable news network with MSNBC host and former chief financial officer Stephanie Ruhle.

Although Harris seemed calmer during her interview with Ruhle, she gave at least one difficult-to-understand answer when asked about her proposal to cut federal government bureaucracy that makes building more affordable housing more difficult.

“Part of the work will be what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state and local governments around transit dollars, and looking holistically at the connection between that and housing, and looking holistically at the incentives that we have in the federal government. The government can ensure that local and state governments actually engage in planning in a holistic way that also prioritizes affordable housing for working people,” she said.

Then, during the signing ceremony of the Arms Decree, which will establish an emerging Task Force on Firearms Threats to study the threat posed by machine gun conversion devices and non-serialized, 3D printed firearms in order to devise an interdepartmental response, Harris elaborated by saying “all the survivors we have lost.” Her comments coincide with her repeated reminders to voters that she owns a gun, first during her debate against Trump and then during her event with TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

“Let’s all agree: this doesn’t have to be this way. We know how to stop these tragedies,” she said in the East Room on Thursday. “I support the Second Amendment, and I believe we should restore the assault weapons ban and pass universal background checks, secure storage laws, and red flag laws.”

But while Harris’ positive rating has improved since she became the Democratic nominee, her strategy to defend the Biden-Harris administration’s “unpopular” policies is “poor,” according to Republican strategist Cesar Conda. Her favorable rating is now a net positive, 48.4% favorable-47.7% unfavorable, according to RealClearPolitics.

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“Harris’ interview was a disaster and it appears that Harris’ avoidance of opportunities to defend her own government’s unpopular policies was a good one,” Conda told the paper. Washington Examiner. “The interview reinforced her complete lack of knowledge of basic economics.”

“Her appearance at the border will only reinforce the fact that she is the border czar who allowed more than 10 million illegal aliens to flood into the country,” he said. “On gun control, Harris said she owned a gun to distract from her proposed policies that will make it harder for law-abiding Americans to own one for self-protection in these dangerous times.”