Harris ditches Biden's strategy with "freedom" focus

• The change comes after many top Democrats worried that Biden's focus on democracy was not breaking through with swing voters.

Driving the news: In her first two campaign rallies as the likely nominee and in her first ads, Harris and her campaign have not used the word "democracy."

• Instead, her stump speech and ads have revolved around themes of "freedom" — from poverty, from gun violence, and to have an abortion if a woman chooses.
• She has changed the campaign's main theme song to Beyoncé's "Freedom."

Instead of portraying Trump as a dictator-in-waiting, Harris has dismissed Trump as "weird" and mocked him as scared to debate while also calling his agenda "extreme."

• She also initially signaled the campaign was not all about Trump, telling a rollicking crowd in Wisconsin: "Let's also make no mistake: This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. This campaign is about who we fight for."

Harris, more than twenty years younger than Biden, has also tried to portray herself as the candidate of the future as she has embraced the tagline "we're not going back."

• In her Atlanta rally Tuesday evening, Harris also did not mention Biden by name.
• The main super PAC supporting Harris' candidacy also began running a new ad Wednesday that concluded with "let the future begin."

Between the lines: The messaging shift is an implicit rebuke of Biden's strategy, which largely focused on Trump as a threat to democracy and Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6.

• Since May, Biden's campaign spent almost $10 million on an ad narrated by actor Robert DeNiro arguing that Trump is "threatening to be a dictator, to terminate the constitution."
• The ad has not aired since July 9, according to AdImpact.
• Biden's top political aide Mike Donilon told The New Yorker earlier this year that by November "the focus will become overwhelming on democracy. I think the biggest images in people's minds are going to be of January 6th."

The other side: While many Democrats were skeptical of Biden's democracy strategy, polling showed that the issue was important to older Americans, who also vote more consistently.

• A Quinnipiac survey in May found that 35% of people over 65 named democracy as "the most urgent issue facing the country today," compared to just 10% of registered voters aged 18-34.

What they're saying: Harris campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Axios that "Harris is fighting for America's future, so while her opponent campaigns to rule as a dictator on day one with unchecked power from the Supreme Court, that certainly means fighting for our democracy."

• He added: "She'll campaign on the issues that matter most to Americans, and as election after election shows us, voters care deeply about preserving American democracy and the rule of law."

The bottom line: The change is also an recognition that Harris is a different person than Biden and her message reflects that.

• As Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon posted on X last week: "Prosecutor vs. the felon, Future vs the past, Repro repro repro."