WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign plans to attack former President Donald Trump more aggressively in the remaining weeks leading up to the November election, a new phase aimed at turning the small number of undecided voters toward her send, according to the five Harris campaign. civil servants.
The change is driven in part by internal campaign data showing that sharper messaging against Trump could convince some still-unsure Americans to support Harris, three campaign officials said. The effort aims to include new ads and tougher language on the campaign trail, highlighting Trump’s past actions and rhetoric, which Harris officials hope will turn voters away from supporting the former president.
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“We’re going to create more contrasts everywhere we can,” Cedric Richmond, co-chair of Harris’ campaign, said in an interview. Given Trump’s own rhetoric in the campaign, Richmond added: “I don’t think there’s any expectation that you criticize him with kid gloves.”
Relying more heavily on negative campaigns is a strategic shift for Harris. While she has been routinely critical of Trump since she became a candidate in July, and before that as President Joe Biden’s running mate, much of her campaign’s focus has been on defining her and explaining her record to the voters.
Harris campaign officials said they plan to lay out her policy positions, background and plans if she wants to win the presidency — and amplifying negative messaging is often a natural evolution in a presidential campaign as the candidates make their closing arguments.
But highlighting what Harris campaign officials see as Trump’s biggest vulnerabilities is seen as possibly one of the few ways to finally win over some undecided voters in a static race that’s tilting Democrats their way want to push.
“The numbers are not moving,” said a Harris campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.
A second Harris campaign official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said: “Basically, with a month to go, our messaging is going to be a lot more about the choice in this election.”
“There will be a shift,” the official said.
Indeed, the Harris campaign has already begun telegraphing this approach, including in two new ads this week: one that refers to his tenure as “erratic, destructive and divisive” and another that raises questions about his fitness for office , since he is 78. years old.
The campaign specifically cited internal research showing that “demonstrating that Trump is unstable unlike Harris” is “the most effective message for target voters” they are trying to reach and persuade in the final stretch.
And on Friday, during a campaign speech at the Redford Township Fire Department in Detroit, Harris blasted Trump as no friend of union workers.
“Donald Trump’s record is a disaster for working people,” Harris said. “He’s trying to target people across the country, but we know the facts and we know the truth. He is an existential threat to the American labor movement.”
While the vast majority of Trump campaign ads were negative, the Harris campaign ran an even mix of positive and negative ads on television for much of the past month, according to tracking firm AdImpact. Harris campaign officials noted that, with less than four months as a candidate, she had to compress a typically longer introduction of herself before pushing out more negative messages to sway and persuade voters.
New Harris ads will feature more of Trump’s record and rhetoric, but also further tie Trump to the conservative policy blueprint of Project 2025 — a decision driven by public opinion polls showing the plan to be deeply unpopular and the former president continuing to insist that he has no ties to it, Harris’ second campaign official said. According to a third campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal strategy, the goal is to “crystallize the choice for voters at home.”
Many of Trump’s allies helped create Project 2025, which is more than 900 pages long. In a Truth Social post Friday, Trump wrote that “Lyin’ Kamala has been put on legal notice that I have and had nothing to do with it.” When asked about the specific message the Harris campaign plans to send, Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman, pointed to health care, immigration and retirement benefits for seniors.
NBC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Richmond said he is not worried about becoming too negative and believes Harris can both focus on her plans and explain why she believes Trump is not qualified to be president. He said he disagrees with everyone — including fellow Democrats — who thinks Harris could be hurt by being too negative about Trump.
“We can do both,” Richmond said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
