Source: Politics<\/p>\n
CHICAGO \u2014 Backstage, as she prepares for a not-so-intimate \u201cfireside chat\u201d about gun safety in front of hundreds of people, Kamala Harris is unscripted and seemingly at ease, no notes or teleprompter in sight.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s comfortable offering condolences and counsel to those who\u2019ve lost loved ones to gun violence \u2014 who stream in wearing red shirts emblazoned with \u201cMoms Demand Action\u201d or \u201cStudents Demand Action.\u201d She holds their hands and looks into their eyes. \u201cWe speak their names,\u201d she whispers to one woman. She gently reassures a man clearly anxious about where to stand in the photo line.<\/p>\n
All eyes are on her. But that\u2019s been true of Harris for a while now. And the view has not often been kind.<\/p>\n
Her tenure as Joe Biden\u2019s No. 2 has not been known for relaxed and warm moments like those in Chicago. Instead, Harris\u2019 term has largely been marked by stilted performances at public events, at odds with the uninhibited interrogator she was known as in the Senate. They\u2019ve fueled whispers about whether she\u2019ll be a drag on the reelection ticket<\/a> as the 2024 race heats up.<\/p>\n Now her political future, and quite possibly the success of the Democratic ticket in 2024, hinges on a simple question: Is it possible for Kamala Harris to make a second impression?<\/p>\n For Harris, it\u2019s a question that fundamentally misunderstands the point. In her mind, she\u2019s the same person she was when the prevailing narrative of her was that of a star prosecutor, ascendant political talent and even the future of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could have followed me around in Iowa [ahead of 2020],\u201d Harris told POLITICO in one of two exclusive interviews. \u201cYou would have seen the same thing four years ago. It’s always who I’ve been. So I can’t get into people’s heads about why they characterize things as being one way or another. It’s not as though I’ve just found myself. I’ve always been here and never went away.\u201d<\/p>\n But privately, former and current aides acknowledge that her focus at the beginning was on making sure it was clear she was on Team Biden. She spoke in legalese, often seemed cautious and struggled to find issues that highlighted her talents, allies say. They privately, and sometimes publicly, admit the first year and a half was rocky.<\/p>\n Now, there\u2019s a hope the rockiness may finally be behind them. And there is a concerted effort underway to ensure that she not only has the support she needs from the White House but that the broader public can see the side of her that \u2014 they believe \u2014 has been overshadowed by the toxic elements of D.C. To that end, her aides are trying to remind the public of that person, in part by inviting reporters to witness her behind the scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s always been true that there’s a delta between how people in D.C. view her versus when she’s out doing her thing in the country with the American people. I think D.C. is starting to catch up,\u201d said White House chief of staff Jeff Zients. \u201cI would argue she’s been great throughout, but as she’s really mastered the demands of the job and been through so much already, that experience enables her to perform at an even higher level.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris\u2019 defenders point to a slightly more positive tone in media coverage over the last year or so. To them, coverage was largely about style over substance until Harris took on the issue of abortion. That put her front and center on an issue that not just suited the vice president\u2019s skillset but also one DC was actually talking about. <\/p>\n And now, Harris world feels like there\u2019s a chance to continue resetting her public image heading into 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issues where she’s out in front happen to be the ones that people care about the most and that motivate our base,\u201d a Biden campaign aide, granted anonymity because they weren\u2019t authorized to speak publicly, said about Harris\u2019 focus on abortion rights, gun control and civil rights.<\/p>\n People who have known Harris since her California days have long complained about how the vice president wasn\u2019t assigned an early policy portfolio that aligned with her skillset or expertise.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand that you’re in the White House and that it’s not just Kamala Harris, it is an administration,\u201d said Paul Henderson, who worked for Harris in San Francisco when she served as district attorney. \u201c[We were wondering] \u2018Where’s \u2018The Advocate\u2019 Kamala? Where is the \u2018Adversary to Foolishness\u2019 Kamala? Where is the \u2018Off script, no, no, I know this,\u2019 Kamala?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But a confluence of events has given Henderson and other Harris allies hopes that the person they know has reemerged. They point to her role as an abortion rights advocate in a post-Dobbs world as an example of a political task that plays to her strength. And how she\u2019s taken on fights with Republicans on their own turf \u2014 like her recent visit to Florida, where she set her sights on Gov. Ron DeSantis and his state\u2019s new education curriculum that includes teaching a controversial interpretation of slavery.<\/p>\n An image reset is far from certain. Harris\u2019 poll numbers<\/a> are still underwater<\/a>, hovering just under Biden\u2019s own low figures<\/a>. Some Democratic insiders continue to question her place on the ticket, too \u2014 always anonymously. And Republicans are not hiding how they plan to elevate her as the campaign gears up. Nikki Haley even crossed out the words \u201cBeat Biden\u201d in the RNC\u2019s loyalty pledge recently, writing in \u201cPresident Kamala Harris\u201d as the real opponent.<\/p>\n Harris said she\u2019s not fazed by any of it.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not going to be distracted from my priority around maternal health. I’m not going to be distracted [from] my long-standing commitment to support small businesses knowing that so many, especially minorities and women, don’t have access to capital,\u201d Harris said a day before the Chicago visit from her West Wing office, sitting between a painting of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and a photo of civil rights activists John Lewis and Amelia Boynton on Bloody Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not going to be distracted from an issue like traveling the country because the highest court of our land just took a constitutional right. Otherwise, that stuff will get in your head and debilitate you.\u201d<\/p>\n Those close to Harris say that\u2019s always been her M.O., one that many Black women in public life share: Keep your head down and hope the world will get it at some point. But even steadfast allies admit that\u2019s exactly what has exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, Harris has vented her frustration about the customs of Washington, and the Beltway\u2019s obsession with conventional wisdom, to close allies. At the same time, she accepts the increased scrutiny.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s just what has happened. It’s what it is,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI’m not going to sit here and say, \u2018Oh, you know, it’s not fair,\u2019 because I am not new to these things.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n There has long been a consensus inside Harris\u2019 inner circle that the vice president needs to get out of Washington and hit the road more. More outreach and handshaking; less time on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n In Chicago, at the \u201cGun Sense University\u201d conference, she\u2019s attentive, actively listening to people she meets and peppering them with questions. Harris knows that all the eyes in the room are on her. That\u2019s true whether she\u2019s backstage or speaking from a podium in an auditorium.<\/p>\n It’s certain to be the case through the entire 2024 election cycle.<\/p>\n Aides say Harris\u2019 current, more fitting portfolio as the administration\u2019s front person on abortion rights, gun violence, climate change and civil rights will be front and center during the campaign. They view her key constituencies as people of color, especially Black voters, young people and women.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, on the third anniversary of Biden selecting her as his running mate, the campaign released a detailed memo \u2014 \u201cWhy Vice President Harris Is Invaluable for 2024\u201d \u2014 advertising her centrality in its strategy. It also aimed to serve as a tonic to help calm the nerves of some in the Democratic Party still whispering their concerns about Harris running with an octogenarian at the top of the ticket.<\/p>\n Republicans have tried to capitalize on those whispers, using the specter of a Harris presidency as a scare tactic.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is a bogeyman that Republicans can use when it comes to pushing their message. A President Harris would be even worse than a President Biden because she campaigned as a progressive fighter and had to moderate herself when she became Biden\u2019s running mate,\u201d said one leading Republican strategist granted anonymity to speak freely.<\/p>\n