Harris continued by connecting political participation to optimism.
“But knowing that is what makes it happen,” she continued. “And so if we’re feeling hopeless, we are less likely to feel powerful. And I believe you should never let anybody take your power from you. No circumstance, no individual.”
Then came another familiar refrain.
“The voice of the people is powerful and the power is with the people,” she said.
For Harris, however, there is an obvious problem with the message: none of this is particularly new.
The language echoes remarks she has used repeatedly at political events over the years. Her emphasis on people feeling powerful, retaining their power and using their voices has become one of the recurring themes of her public appearances.
Republicans have previously highlighted clips of Harris making similar remarks at different events, arguing that the repetition illustrates a broader problem with her political communication. Instead of presenting a sharply defined argument, critics say, Harris often circles back to familiar phrases and concepts.
That criticism is likely to resurface as Democrats attempt to turn the midterms into a referendum on President Donald Trump.
Harris did not hold back in describing the Trump administration. She called it “the most callous, the corrupt and incompetent presidential administration we’ve ever experienced.”
She also argued that Americans have spent the past year and a half feeling “hopeless” and “powerless.”
Harris went further, labeling Trump a “tyrant” and warning that the country’s political institutions may not be enough to restrain him.
Yet that rhetoric raises a fundamental question for Democrats heading into the final stretch of the campaign: What is the alternative?
Calling Trump a tyrant may energize Democratic activists, but voters also have to decide what they want their representatives to do once the election is over.
That is where Harris’s appearance leaves Democrats vulnerable to criticism.
The speech offered plenty of emotion, but relatively little in the way of a detailed policy blueprint. There was no sweeping new proposal aimed at reducing grocery bills. There was no comprehensive economic plan unveiled for struggling families. And there was no major announcement designed to give independent voters a reason to rally behind the Democratic Party beyond opposition to Trump.
Instead, the message was essentially to become energized, feel powerful and vote.
That may work with a committed political base. Whether it can persuade undecided voters is another matter entirely.
Harris’s return to the campaign trail also carries considerable political baggage. She served four years as vice president before launching her own presidential campaign, ultimately losing to Trump. Since then, she has largely remained outside the center of daily electoral politics, spending time on speaking engagements and other projects while Democrats continued debating the party’s future.
Now, with the midterms rapidly approaching, she has been placed back into a prominent role.
The decision itself is revealing.
Democrats need turnout. They need enthusiasm. They need a compelling argument that can break through voter frustration over the economy, government performance and the direction of the country.
And their answer, at least in part, is Kamala Harris.
That choice gives Republicans an opening.
Democrats have spent enormous amounts of time warning voters about Trump. But even prominent Democratic strategists have acknowledged that opposition alone cannot carry the party indefinitely.
Democratic strategist Celinda Lake has warned that her party “can’t just be against Trump.”
That may be the central challenge facing Democrats heading into November.
A political party can build an impressive turnout operation around fear of the opposing candidate. It can fill rallies, organize phone banks and produce campaign advertisements. But eventually, voters want to know what they are voting for.
Harris’s speech did little to answer that question.
Instead, Democrats received a familiar collection of themes about power, hope and political participation.
Republicans, meanwhile, are hoping to capitalize on what they see as a lack of a coherent Democratic message.
The stakes are substantial. Democrats are hoping to reproduce the kind of House gains they achieved during Trump’s first midterm election, when Republicans suffered major losses in 2018.
But the political environment is different, and the party’s challenge is not simply turnout. Democrats must convince voters that they deserve control of Congress.
That requires more than telling people to feel powerful.
It requires a reason to believe that voting Democratic will materially improve their lives.
For now, Harris’s appearance suggests Democrats are still searching for that argument.
The former vice president has been handed an important assignment with only weeks remaining before Election Day.
Her opening message was unmistakable: don’t feel powerless.
Whether that message is powerful enough to move voters is the question Democrats now have to answer.
