WASHINGTON — Less than two weeks before an election that could make history, Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to enlist the help of the only other woman to come so close to the Oval Office during her campaign: the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
The decision underlines Harris’s lack of emphasis on the historic potential of her candidacy in her pitch to voters, a stark contrast to Clinton’s approach in her 2016 campaign. It also reflects the Harris campaign’s strategy to focus on reaching specific voters, especially men.
A person close to the campaign said having Clinton on the campaign trail might not be the most useful move at this point because it needed to focus on his core messages.
Clinton is expected to host at least one event for the Harris campaign in the final week of the election, according to two people familiar with the planning, although an event has not yet been announced. It is unclear whether Clinton will appear alongside the vice president on the campaign trail.
A Harris campaign official said Clinton will campaign for vice president in the latter part of the race.
Since supporting Harris’ candidacy in July, Clinton has organized several fundraisers for her. The most high-profile appearance she made on Harris’ behalf was a primetime speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Clinton has tried to boost support for Harris during media appearances and with some social media posts, including a video on Wednesday in which she said, “Kamala is the right person for this time in our country.”
“Many of us have put big cracks in that glass ceiling,” Clinton said. “There was a purpose behind it and that purpose was the freedom to be yourself and the freedom to go as fast as your work and talent take you.”
Harris doesn’t talk about the glass ceiling on the campaign trail, saying in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday: “Well, obviously I’m a woman. I don’t have to point that out to anyone.”
“You don’t always have to talk about history to make it. Voters are tired, anxious and want to know what the next president will do for them,” said one Democratic strategist, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “The campaign’s instinct to keep identity politics at bay is entirely reasonable, and powerful surrogates like Secretary Clinton are out there raising tens of millions of dollars to ensure the vice president’s message reaches voters.”
A second campaign official said there is wariness among Harris aides about reminding voters of the 2016 election, when Clinton lost to Donald Trump, even as the vice president presents himself as a change candidate offering a new generation of politics.
Clinton has been on a weeklong book tour to promote her new memoir, “Something Lost, Something Gained,” in which she was critical of Trump. The former Democratic nominee’s events have filled theaters in battleground states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina. And her book tour is scheduled for next week, which will take her to Michigan and Georgia.
Clinton’s message during these events is largely a warning to voters about a Trump return to the White House, although those who paid to be in the room are unlikely to need convincing.
“If he has a Republican Congress, if he’s in the White House, they will pass a national abortion ban and he will sign it,” Clinton said of Trump during a book tour in Washington, D.C.
“The people who really staffed the first Trump White House and the first Trump administration were people with some experience,” Clinton said. “They are all gone now. They all support Kamala Harris because they saw firsthand what Trump was like.”
A longtime Harris aide who requested anonymity to speak candidly said Hillary Clinton — like her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who was running for vice president — is seen as an asset by the campaign. But for Hillary Clinton, the campaign also recognizes that leaning on her identity as a potential first female president was not a successful electoral strategy to defeat Trump.
“Hillary Clinton said, ‘I’m with her,’ and I wasn’t,” Harris’ aide said of the voters. “So that means we have to focus more on the voter than on the candidate, because the country is not ready for that message. “I’m with her” means you’re talking more about the candidate than the voter. Now we are focused on the freedom of the voter instead of the candidate.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
