Washington
CNN
—
Vice President Kamala Harris first laid out the rationale for the attack Friday as the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing to highlight the impact of border security issues on local communities.
Four months ago, when the committee held a similar on-site hearing in North Dakota, the vice president’s name was never mentioned.
The shift in branding and messaging from the “Biden border crisis” to the “Biden-Harris border crisis” underscores House Republicans’ particular targeting of Harris following a summer of Democratic showdown over President Joe Biden, with Harris becoming the Democratic presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as his running mate.
As Congress launches into a three-week onslaught before its next recess, both parties are returning to Washington, D.C., to deliver final messages dictated by the dynamics of the presidential election in an entirely new political landscape, while also trying to balance a crucial Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.
Republicans have reversed their initial plan to target Biden and are now targeting Harris, while Democrats are planning aggressive moves of their own, positioning the Republican attacks as a last resort.
Members of the Trump campaign advised House Republicans on a private conference call on Friday about what they see as Harris’ biggest weaknesses and told them to continue attacking her on the border and the state of the economy, people involved in the call told CNN. Calls between Republican lawmakers and Trump campaign officials are set to become more regular in the coming weeks as behind-the-scenes coordination intensifies ahead of the November election, the people told CNN.
The Trump campaign’s tactics are largely similar to those used by Republicans against Biden, and with Harris serving in Biden’s administration and serving in a Senate runoff election as vice president, Republicans intend to continue to focus their attention on these issues.
Given these ongoing attacks on the border and immigration, Democrats will likely continue to point out that new Biden administration policies have led to border crossings at a four-year low and highlight how Republicans have torn up a bipartisan border deal for political reasons.
But while there is evidence that Republicans are trying a more targeted approach to the Harris-Waltz candidacy, with old “Biden crime family” and other tropes being pushed aside, parts of the GOP’s messaging strategy for Harris have become incoherent. When it comes to attacking Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, Republicans are trying to find a foothold to further divide the Democratic Party on this issue. While Harris supports Biden on the response to the war and generally shares the same positions as the president, Republicans can’t seem to decide in their messaging whether Harris is too close to Israel or too opposed.
For example, Republican groups in Michigan last week bought digital ads touting Harris’ close ties to Israel, while former President Donald Trump said at an event this week that Israel “would cease to exist” if Harris were elected.
Additionally, some Republicans went off script and accused Harris of being a “DEI hire,” sparking an immediate backlash that these attacks were rooted in racism.
Republican-led congressional committees have been at the forefront of shifting focus from Biden to Harris.
For example, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee released their report on the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and held a press conference on Monday calling it an “unprecedented oversight by the Biden-Harris Administration,” a clear change of messaging after previously placing the blame on the Biden administration.
The House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Walz for documents related to a $250 million fraud scheme in which individuals affiliated with a Minnesota-based nonprofit are accused of stealing from a federal program meant to feed poor children during the pandemic.
The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Minnesota Governor Walz last month into his alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and a committee official told CNN the committee plans to hold hearings targeting the Biden-Harris administration once lawmakers are back in session.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) last month asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for documents that refer to Harris using the words “czar,” “border,” “immigrant” and “immigration.” Republicans have continued to try to paint Harris as a “border czar,” a title the White House has rejected, saying she is focused on long-term solutions. Republican Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin questioning Walz’s description of his military record.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told CNN on Thursday about Republicans’ efforts to focus on Harris in September.
“I believe her role should be closely scrutinized,” Mace added.
But the GOP’s focus on Harris puts the target of the party’s massive investigation in an awkward position.
The three committees leading the Biden impeachment inquiry, once a top priority on the Republican investigative agenda, released their report on Biden in the middle of the August recess without a clear path forward. Rather than calling on the House to vote on impeachment, the report left it up to lawmakers to decide how to proceed.
Summing up the GOP approach to Biden now that the president is not seeking reelection, Mike Davis, a former aide to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and founder of the Article III Project, told CNN: “Who is Joe Biden? Nobody cares about him anymore.”
And with just weeks to go until Election Day, even Republicans acknowledge there are more pressing political issues to address.
“Looking at the timeline alone, I don’t think there’s going to be any action to impeach Joe Biden,” Rep. Bob Good, a Republican from Virginia, told CNN. “But I’ve been saying for the last four years that Joe Biden should be impeached.”
But Democrats see the new efforts to target Harris and Walz as empty threats, and say Republican racial attacks on Harris could disqualify her.
“Republicans can’t win on policy, so they’re attacking Kamala Harris’ identity and lying about Tim Walz’s military record,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., told CNN. “They have every reason to attack them.”
In addition to countering Republican arguments, Democrats are using their minority positions on committees to go on the offensive and develop their own messaging strategy.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who serves on the Oversight committee, criticized Republicans for rushing their investigations into Harris and Walz.
“All of a sudden, we’re starting all these new things in just the three weeks we’re going to be there?” Moskowitz said.
“We’re going to pivot and go on the attack, not go on the defense,” Moskowitz added of the Democrats’ strategy on those committees.
Democrats in both chambers on Monday unveiled plans to use their committee positions to put Republicans in tough positions. House Oversight Committee Democrats are pressuring House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to hold hearings on gun violence in the wake of the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia, while Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats announced they will hold hearings later this month to focus on a Supreme Court decision that would limit prosecutions against President Trump related to January 6, 2021.
Earlier this month, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee began investigating whether President Trump accepted $10 million from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as part of his 2016 presidential campaign, the latest example of Democrats investigating potential foreign influence over President Trump.
The Democratic Working Group, which has been spearheading messaging against Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for the next Republican president that has sparked major backlash since President Donald Trump’s election, is also planning a number of messaging events over the next month, multiple sources told CNN.
While President Trump continues to deny any involvement with Project 2025, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee are preparing to continue highlighting examples where they see evidence of a right-wing blueprint in Republican funding proposals on Capitol Hill.
This story has been updated with additional developments.