Vice President Kamala Harris will define her economic views as “pragmatic” during a policy speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday as her team thinks she is making up ground against former President Donald Trump on the economy, a senior campaign official said.
In the speech, Harris plans to tell voters that “as a capitalist she understands the limitations of government” and that the government must “work in partnership with the private sector and entrepreneurs,” according to the senior official, granted anonymity to preview Harris’ speech. The official notes Harris will make clear “she is unafraid to hold bad actors accountable if she needs to.”
Harris is also expected to evoke former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal agenda brought America back from a steep economic downturn during the Great Depression, in her remarks, according to another senior campaign official.
The vice president will also argue that her economic philosophy is “rooted in her middle-class upbringing” and contrast that with Trump’s “gilded path to wealth,” as part of a larger values argument, the senior official said.
“For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers. Not those who build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floors,” Harris is prepared to say Wednesday.
In drawing that comparison, Harris will highlight the “pressures of making ends meet” that she’ll say her mother experienced trying to balance a budget late at night at the kitchen table.
The remarks, to be delivered at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, comes as Harris and her advisers see an opening to erode Trump’s edge on the economy in voters’ eyes as many Americans get to know the vice president, a senior official said.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted after the ABC News presidential debate earlier this month found that the economy was the top issue for voters, with 91% saying it was an important issue for them. In that poll, voters trusted Trump to do a better job handling the economy than Harris by 7-point margin. A recent NBC News poll out Sunday found showed Trump led Harris in dealing with the economy by a 9-point spread.
Harris has made the economy and the cost of living a focal point of her campaign. In recent weeks, Harris has rolled out proposals to give first time homebuyers $25,000 down payment assistance for first time homebuyers, increasing the small businesses start up tax credit tenfold to $50,000, and a $6,000 child tax credit for the first year of a newborn’s life.
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Vance preparing for VP debate with Tom Emmer playing Walz
As Sen. JD Vance prepares to face Gov. Tim Walz in next week’s vice-presidential debate, the Ohio senator is turning to Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer to help him in debate rehearsals by playing Walz, sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.
One of the sources said Emmer was invited to stand in for Walz so that Vance could prepare to take on the governor’s folksy personality.
Vance’s debate preparations have included sessions at his Cincinnati home and online sessions with his team and with Jason Miller, a senior advisor on former President Donald Trump’s campaign, a source told ABC News.
Vance has spent the last month reviewing debate plans, strategies and potential questions, according to a source familiar with the senator’s debate preparations.
Vance is expected to paint Walz as too liberal, focusing on the policies he has passed while governor of Minnesota, one of the sources said.
Emmer is the third-ranking Republican in the House and serves as the majority whip. Emmer also previously served as the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Emmer backed Trump for president earlier this year — despite the fact that the former president called Emmer a “Globalist RINO” who is “totally out-of-touch” with Republican voters, effectively tanking Emmer’s speakership bid in October 2023.
Walz and Emmer overlapped in the House from 2015 through 2019 before Walz ran for governor of Minnesota.
Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, a Yale law school graduate and who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, has also been involved in the debate preparation sessions, a source told ABC News.
Those helping Vance prepare have been immersed in learning Walz’s debate style by watching videos of his past debates from his previous campaign runs, according to the source.
The source also points to Vance’s frequent media interview as helping him prep for the debate, specifically citing his frequent appearances on the Sunday shows and engaging with “contentious network hosts.”
Walz’s debate preparations are also underway with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acting as a Vance stand-in during the Walz team’s debate rehearsals. Walz has also held policy sessions with his own longtime aides, Biden White House alumni and members of the Harris-Walz campaign team.
The vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News is set to be in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the network has announced, with both Walz and Vance agreeing to participate. The debate will be moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.
