The Morning: Why Harris’s centrism is working

Plus, Ukraine, Israeli hostages and CrossFit.

View in browser|nytimes.com August 23, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We're covering Kamala Harris's patriotic speech — as well as Ukraine, Israeli hostages and CrossFit. Kamala Harris Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times 'U.S.A.! U.S.A.!' Kamala Harris capped her first month as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate with a roughly 35-minute convention speech last night that embodied her aggressive efforts to win over swing voters. It was a patriotic speech that was hawkish on foreign policy and border security. She described the United States as the greatest country in the world — a view many Americans hold but most Democratic voters do not — and she ended by saying that being an American was "the greatest privilege on earth." She promised to confront China, Russia, Iran and Iran-backed terrorists and to make sure that the U.S. military remained the "most lethal fighting force in the world." She also offered a series of populist promises to help the middle class by reducing the cost of housing and health care — policies that many independents and some Republicans favor. And she spent little if any time on subjects that inspire passion among Democrats but are either secondary or off-putting to many swing voters, such as student debt forgiveness and President Biden's climate agenda. You can read more about Harris's speech in this news story, as well as in this article on how she contrasted herself with Donald Trump. In today's newsletter, I want to explain why Harris's move to the political center seems to be working, at least so far. Who vs. what Harris has surged in the polls, erasing Biden's deficit and taking a small lead over Trump, for two main reasons. First, she has won over some swing voters, including independents, working-class Midwesterners and even a fraction of 2020 Trump voters. Second, she has done so at no apparent cost: In addition to attracting swing voters, she has built a bigger lead than Biden had among the Democratic base, such as young voters, college graduates and city residents. How could this be? It comes down to the difference between the who and the what of her candidacy. Loyal Democrats are energized about the who. They spent months agonizing over Biden's flailing candidacy. Once he quit and Harris wrapped up party support in just a few hours, everything felt different. Democrats remembered what it was like to have a candidate who could deliver a speech without making people fret that something was about to go wrong. Harris is full of energy and joy. She can cogently explain the administration's policies, and she seems to be having fun in the process. Amid this electricity, many Democrats have been willing to tolerate her triangulation in the service of winning. Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times Harris isn't just another Democratic politician, either. She would be the country's first female president, of course, and is a woman of color. Today's Democratic Party puts great emphasis on identity, especially race and gender. The party defines itself in large part as the defender of groups that suffer discrimination and injustice. Just watch Tuesday night's ceremonial roll call to nominate Harris, when delegates celebrated her historic status — and their own identities. This focus on personal identity can give pathbreaking candidates more flexibility to stray from Democratic orthodoxy without angering the base. Barack Obama benefited from a similar dynamic in 2008. He was more moderate than some other Democratic candidates that year, yet he still excited many progressives. (Obama's speech this week was also fairly moderate. Nonetheless, it received rapturous applause.) For all these reasons, Harris has formed an emotional bond with liberals and others who make up the Democratic base. That bond has freed her to pursue swing voters with the what of her candidacy. She offers an economic agenda that many working-class voters support. She claims that she, not Trump, is the true candidate of border security. She encourages "U.S.A.!" chants. Last night, she referred to American history as "the most extraordinary story ever told." A tight race Even so, the presidential race remains close. Harris leads in enough states to win, but only just. And if recent polls have undercounted Trump voters as much as they did in 2016 and 2020, he would probably win an election held today. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times With the convention now over, Democrats won't be able to control the narrative the way that they have this week. Republicans have already started running ads to remind voters of Harris's liberal past. One ad opens by calling Harris a "San Francisco radical" and showing her wearing a Covid mask while she announces her pronouns. It then includes clips in which she calls for a ban on plastic straws, supports looser immigration policies and says more police officers don't lead to more safety. Expect to see a lot of these ads before November. It is possible that Harris has been enjoying a temporary polling bump — from the good vibes of replacing Biden — that will soon fade. (In that case, I'll be curious to see if Harris goes even further to moderate her image; she said nothing last night, for example, about whether she supported an "all of the above" energy policy to reduce prices.) Nobody knows what will happen between now and Election Day. What's clear is that Harris has run an effective first month of her campaign, managing both to consolidate Democratic support and to moderately — in both senses of the word — expand her appeal. More from the convention Harris's speech included a statement of support for Israel, a denunciation of Hamas and a demand for security and dignity for the people of Gaza. It was effort to bridge the Democratic Party's divides on the war. Harris spoke about growing up in a working-class neighborhood with an immigrant single mother. "She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it," Harris said. "She also taught us, 'And never do anything half-assed.'" Harris accused Trump and the Republicans of planning to jail opponents, cut taxes for the rich and ban abortion nationwide. "Simply put, they are out of their minds," she said. "My entire career, I've only had one client: the people," Harris said of her background as a prosecutor and lawmaker. Trump, she argued, was running "to serve the only client he has ever had: himself." Read a transcript of her speech. Other speakers last night echoed Harris's patriotic theme. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican former congressman, said, "I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret: The Democrats are as patriotic as us." Members of the Central Park Five — who as boys were wrongfully convicted of attacking a woman in 1980s New York — criticized Trump. Years ago, he called for the return of the death penalty over the case. Celebrity appearances included the Chicks, who performed the national anthem, Kerry Washington, the singer Pink and the N.B.A. star Stephen Curry, who endorsed Harris in a video. Harris's grandnieces led delegates in a call-and-response about how to pronounce her name. "First you say 'comma,' like a comma in a sentence," one said. "Then you say 'la,' like 'la-la-la-la-la,'" the other said. More on the campaign Trump, calling in to Fox News after Harris's speech, sought to distance himself from Project 2025, his conservative allies' governing blueprint, and accused Harris of failing to fix the problems she was "complaining about." Trump said on social media that Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who is Jewish, had done "nothing" for Israel and called himself "the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had." Shapiro accused Trump of peddling antisemitic tropes. Arizona can require people registering to vote to show proof of citizenship, the Supreme Court said. Trump's New Jersey golf club will host a fund-raiser to support Capitol rioters, billed as the J6 Awards Gala, next month. Arkansas's Supreme Court rejected an effort to put an abortion-rights amendment on the November ballot, saying the paperwork was faulty. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed to withdraw from the presidential election in Arizona. He's scheduled to speak about his campaign's future today. THE LATEST NEWS War in Ukraine In eastern Ukraine.  Thomas Peter/Reuters Ukraine's two-week-old offensive in western Russia has slowed, while Russian forces have gained momentum in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. In Russia, negative feelings about Vladimir Putin have increased since Ukraine's incursion, an analysis of online posts found. In Germany, strict budget rules and rising parties on the far left and far right are pushing the government to reduce its support for Ukraine. Israel-Hamas War "They could have brought him back": The families of Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza this week expressed anger at Israel's leaders for not agreeing to a cease-fire. A group representing hostage families said that autopsies found bullets in the recovered bodies. The military said it was too soon to tell if gunshot wounds were the cause of death. More International News The diamond was discovered by the company Lucara using X-ray technology. Lucara Diamond The second-largest diamond ever found was uncovered in Botswana. It's the size of an adult's palm, and weighs more than a pound. Italian divers recovered the body of the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, confirming that he was killed when his yacht sank in a storm. A volcano erupted in southwestern Iceland, the country's sixth eruption since December. Other Big Stories The F.D.A. approved updated Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Only one in five American adults took booster shots last fall. A network of more than a dozen current and former inmates used drones to smuggle drugs into Georgia prisons, prosecutors said. Opinions Times Opinion columnists picked their best and worst moments of the last night of the Democratic convention. This month, the F.D.A. denied approval of psychedelic drugs for mental health treatment. They won't be approved until proponents stop conducting unethical clinical trials, Caty Enders writes. Here are columns by Paul Krugman on Trump and crime and Michelle Goldberg on why Harris needs Lina Khan. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Sphen, right, and his partner, Magic. SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Love and loss: Sphen, a gentoo penguin who found international fame because of his relationship with another male penguin named Magic, died at 11. Altered states: A survey revealed similarities between psychedelic trips and near-death experiences. Pickle: A TikTok influencer's recipes have caused a cucumber shortage in Iceland. Lives Lived: Charlene Marshall was at the center of a legal battle over the estate of the New York socialite Brooke Astor, her mother-in-law. Marshall's husband, Anthony, was ultimately convicted of fraud, but she in some ways seemed like the one on trial. Marshall died at 79. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Seattle Mariners, who held a 10-game lead in the A.L. West two months ago, fired their manager Scott Servais. Our beat writer says the organization is at a crisis point. College football: The sport's fall schedule kicks off this weekend. See our 12-team playoff projection. ARTS AND IDEAS CrossFit athletes observed a moment of silence. Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, via Tribune News Service, via Getty Images The CrossFit Games are usually a triumphant moment, an extreme four-day test of fitness in which participants leap over hay bales, swing sledgehammers and toss medicine balls. This year, though, the competition turned tragic when a 28-year-old athlete from Serbia died during an open-water swim. His death has resurfaced simmering concerns that the games push competitors too far. More on culture Audre Lorde in 1981.  JEB/Joan E. Biren A biography of the poet and thinker Audre Lorde offers a new way to think about her activism and legacy. Jon Stewart went live on the last night of the Democratic convention. 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