US

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns launch rival TV ads in US swing states

Presidential candidates try to land blows as election is reset with new Democratic candidate

US vice-president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, rival candidates in this year's US election. Photograph: AP
James Politi in Washington and Lauren Fedor in Atlanta
Tue Jul 30 2024 - 19:55

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have launched television advertising blitzes targeting each other in key swing states as their campaigns try to gain the upper hand after the US election was reset by Joe Biden’s withdrawal.

The moves by Ms Harris and Mr Trump on Tuesday come as the duelling candidates race to redefine the presidential contest for the White House with less than 100 days to go before the November election.

Ms Harris, the vice-president and presumptive Democratic nominee, will spend $50 million (€46 million) on campaign adverts between now and the party’s convention, which starts on August 19th.

Her first commercial is called “fearless” – and features a narrator describing how Ms Harris “put murderers and abusers behind bars” as a prosecutor in California, secured a big settlement with big banks, and took on big pharmaceutical groups to cut drug costs for seniors.

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“This campaign is about who we fight for,” Ms Harris says before turning to Mr Trump. “[He] wants to take our country backward. To give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act.”

While Ms Harris is trying to strike a contrast with Mr Trump on his approach to big business, the former president and Republican nominee launched his own $12 million ad campaign by attacking the vice-president for her record on immigration policy.

Early in Mr Biden’s administration Ms Harris was tasked with handling the root causes of migration across the border with Mexico, including through high level diplomatic engagement with several central American countries.

But Republicans have accused her of failing to contain a jump in illegal border crossings that unfolded during Mr Biden’s presidency, making it one of her biggest political vulnerabilities.

“This is America’s border tsar and she’s failed us,” the narrator in the Trump ad says, speaking over footage of Ms Harris dancing at an outdoor party, pointing to the 10 million undocumented immigrants in the country, and what it claimed were the fentanyl deaths, “brutal” crimes and Islamic State terrorism that came along with the surge.

The ad also mocks Ms Harris for an NBC interview in 2021 during which she struggled to explain why she had not visited the border with Mexico.

The Trump ad comes after the Republican former president was able to rally big party donors to his side in recent months, and boost fundraising on the back of his criminal conviction in New York as well as the assassination attempt against him earlier this month.

Since entering the race on July 21st, Ms Harris has raised more than $200 million, a reflection of the Democratic enthusiasm surrounding her candidacy. The party’s fundraising had slowed sharply in previous weeks amid donor unhappiness with Mr Biden’s candidacy.

Previous Biden TV ad campaigns in battleground states had failed to improve his polling numbers, so the Harris campaign will hope her spots will be more effective.

“We are the underdogs in this race, but the groundswell of support around the vice-president is real and it is meaningful,” Harris campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters on Monday. “Our task now is to translate that enthusiasm into action.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024