Harris wants to challenge Trump on policy at debate

PITTSBURGH — Vice President Harris wants to challenge former President Trump on policy on the debate stage Tuesday, hoping to make a compelling argument that she’s stronger than the former president on issues that Americans care about while responding to criticism about her own proposals.

“She’s not just going to read off statistics, she’s going to read off what her policy is and how it actually will impact peoples’ lives,” a former Harris aide said.

Trump’s comments about child care costs during a New York speech Thursday added fuel to this part of Harris’s strategy.

The former president was asked at the Economic Club of New York if he would commit to prioritizing legislation to make child care affordable. He gave a lengthy answer in response without articulating any specific legislation he would propose, instead suggesting tariffs on foreign nations would help cover costs.

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) responded on social platform X that Trump was “not even pretending to have a single coherent idea,” and White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said on MSNBC, “If you have any idea what the hell that answer means, you’re a better detective than I am.”

The Harris campaign hopes its candidate can provoke similar responses from Trump on Tuesday night at the debate hosted by ABC.

Detailed policy proposals haven’t necessarily been a strength of Harris’s campaign so far.

Harris only became the nominee after President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her.

Since then, she’s had to balance between defending the Biden administration’s policies on a host of issues, including the economy and Israel’s war in Gaza, and staking out her own proposals. Harris recently announced tax policy proposals that included some shifts from Biden’s agenda, including hiking the capital gains tax by much less than what Biden is proposing.

The vice president is also dealing with calls from Trump and some in conservative media to outline more of her ideas, and to explain whether she still holds the same positions she took as a presidential candidate in 2019. Harris has already signaled some shifts from those years, most notably by no longer calling for a ban on fracking.

Harris is in deep preparation for the debate, her team has said.

The former Harris aide said her preparation process for big moments like a debate involve her diving into the policy, reviewing briefing materials, and being surrounded a team of people to workshop phrases to use to relate to voters on personal issues.

“Through her preparation, typically, she likes figuring out how to talk about things in a way that really relates to people. She’s just a very practical person,” the former aide said.

The aide pointed to a CNN interview last week, during which Harris talked about the federal child tax credit through the prism of parents buying items a child needs.

When asked what she would do on day one of a Harris administration, she told CNN’s Dana Bash she would extend "the child tax credit to $6,000 for families for the first year of their child’s life to help them buy a car seat, to help them buy baby clothes, a crib.”

In her first Hispanic media interview as a candidate for president this week, Harris contrasted her background with Trump’s.

“I think that we know that when we look at somebody who actually has come from a working background and understands the needs of working people, that’s when working people benefit,” she told Edna Chapa, an entertainment reporter known as “Angel Baby.”

Harris has also proposed a federal ban on price gouging, a plan to end the housing shortage through the construction of new units and down-payment support for first-time homebuyers, along with her plan to expand the child tax credit.

“This is another chance for undecided voters to see her as ready for the Oval Office, with clear policy ideas in her opportunity economy that are focused on them and their priorities,” Katie Grant Drew, a Democratic communications strategist, said in an interview.

“The more she talks about a ‘new way forward’ and ‘not going back,’ the better,” she said.

Harris may need to play defense at times during the debate, as Trump will likely want to focus on the Biden administration’s difficulty in stemming inflation, the deaths surrounding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and problems at the border.

“Harris and Trump are both eager to make the debate about policy, but mostly the other candidates’ policies, with Trump aiming at Harris’s flip-flops and Biden record and Harris highlighting Trump’s positions on abortion, child care, tax cuts for the wealthy, etc.,” said Bruce Mehlman, a former official under President George W. Bush.

The Harris campaign has also argued she will be at a disadvantage because the candidates' microphones will be muted while the other is speaking. Harris won’t be able to have a quick back-and-forth with Trump if he says something she wants to dispute or question him on, which her campaign was eager to see her do.

Still, Democrats think a focus on policy could be an advantage for her, despite the muted microphones.

“While it’s unfortunate that Vice President Harris will be disadvantaged by the microphone muting rule, one of the best things she can do is to still let Trump undermine himself with his usual routine of lies, divisive rhetoric, and focus on the past,” said Grant Drew, a principal at Monument Advocacy.