Harris releases first campaign video in rush to introduce herself

Vice President Kamala Harris‘s campaign has put out its first video as she seeks to reintroduce her to the public.

An echo of her recent campaign speeches since becoming the 2024 Democratic presumptive nominee, the one-minute, 19-second video, not an ad, includes a voiceover from Harris in which she contends this election, now one between her and former President Donald Trump, is about “freedom.” Beyonce’s “Freedom,” Harris’s walk-out song, can be heard in the background.

“There are some people who think we should be a country of chaos. Of fear. Of hate.
But us. We choose something different,” Harris says. “We choose freedom.”

“The freedom not just to get by, but get ahead,” she adds. “The freedom to be safe from gun violence.
The freedom to make decisions about your own body. We choose a future where no child lives in poverty. Where we all can afford healthcare, where no one is above the law. We believe in the promise of America and we are ready to fight for it. Because when we fight, we win.”

In an earlier memo, another campaign first, campaign Chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon emphasized Harris’s potential to “expand support from 2020.”

“In many cases, these voters did not vote for the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020, but came out in support of Democrats in 2022 as Donald Trump’s Republican Party grew more and more extreme,” Dillon wrote. “This race is more fluid now – the Vice President is well-known but less well-known than both Trump and President Biden, particularly among Dem-leaning constituencies.”

“Vice President Harris enters a tight race, but it is clear that she can bring together a coalition of voters to keep a wide set of states in play,” she continued. “We continue to focus on the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — and the Sun Belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, where the Vice President’s advantages with young voters, Black voters, and Latino voters will be important to our multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes.”

The video comes hours after Trump told a crowd in Charlotte, North Carolina, “when you are dealing” with Democrats “you can’t be too nice.”

It also comes after President Joe Biden addressed the nation to provide context to his decision last weekend to step down as the 2024 Democratic nominee 100-odd days before the election.

“I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term,” Biden said. “But nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy, that includes personal ambition.

“So I decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,” he said. “There is a time and place for long years of experience in public life. But there’s also a time and place for new voices, fresh voices, and yes, younger voices.”