When Vice President Kamala Harris emerged onto a rally stage in Milwaukee for the first time as a presidential candidate on July 23, the song “Freedom” by Beyoncé—her new campaign anthem—erupted from the speaker system.
The song was more than a way to energize audiences—the title would be the rallying cry of Harris’ pitch to voters that fundamental freedoms are at stake in this election.
“On behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment,” Harris said in her speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago a month later.
These topics have been key to Harris’s speeches since launching her campaign and stand in contrast to the tone of President Joe Biden prior to his exit from the race—ominous rhetoric that targeted former President Donald Trump as an alleged danger to American democracy. While Harris has not abandoned that message, she has turned to a more upbeat tone as she tries to slash Trump’s polling leads in key swing states.
Trump hit back while rallying in Potterville, Michigan, on Aug. 29, saying the election is not a choice between Democrats and Republicans, but between “communism and freedom.”
Other Republicans aren’t buying the freedom and patriotism slogans from Democrats, casting it as empty rhetoric.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told The Epoch Times that Democrats are finally joining the rest of the American public. “But I wish it was real,” he said.
Messaging Shift
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, also seized on freedom in his convention speech.“When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love. Freedom to make your own health care decisions,” Walz said.
Addressing a nation on the brink of war, Roosevelt described a world “founded upon four essential human freedoms”—freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear of outside military aggression.
Decades later, freedom became a hallmark of Republican campaign messaging, appearing in speeches from before the Reagan era through President George W. Bush.
“It must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again,” he said.
Strategic Messaging
For some observers, the DNC’s focus on freedom is a success.
“We had a situation where the Democrats took away from the Republicans an issue that used to work for them, they used to talk about freedom ... but mostly in economic terms,” said Elaine Kamarck, director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, during an online discussion hosted by the think tank on Aug. 26.
“There’s a good case for that, obviously, but [Democrats] went much bigger … and I think it’s a winning theme,” she said.
Kamarck was joined by EJ Dionne Jr., a political science professor from Georgetown University and senior fellow at Brookings. Dionne said Democrats also incorporated “positive freedom or positive liberty” at this year’s convention, “where the state government can empower people to achieve things they couldn’t achieve without some extra help.”
Kamarck and Dionne both saw patriotism within the Democrats’ messaging after Biden’s exit, particularly at the convention.
“They are offering a very specific definition of patriotism, which is, yes, love of country, but it’s love of this country because it is a pluralist democracy that welcomes in all kinds of people,” Dionne said.
The convention emblazoned American flags throughout the United Center on the last night with chants of “USA, USA, USA!” during multiple speeches.
“It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done ... and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on earth. The privilege and pride of being an American,” Harris said in her convention speech.
Trump has invoked patriotism since the moment he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015, exemplified by his “Make America Great Again” slogan. The American flag is a staple of his rallies and merchandising and can be seen on the tail of his airplane, Trump Force One.
David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University, said Harris is smart to campaign on patriotism and freedom.
“It is aimed in part at the centrists. It is a message that also appeals to progressives. It also takes the language away from Republicans. All smart moves,” he told The Epoch Times.
Indiana University Indianapolis political science professor Aaron Dusso shared this sentiment, calling them “bread and butter American concepts.”
Republican Skepticism
Not all agree with this messaging shift, particularly some Republicans, who see it as disingenuous and hollow.During an Aug. 22 press conference at the Trump Hotel Chicago, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Harris’s rhetoric is based on style over substance.
“Many voters are going to demand some level of substance that they haven’t gotten yet,” he said.
Lankford said that although Democrats are talking about freedom, their policies lead to “centralized government control.”
It’s not just the fixation on freedom that leaves Lankford skeptical; it’s also Harris’s pivot on immigration and border security since she became the Democratic presidential nominee.
In her CNN interview on Aug. 29, Harris leaned into her efforts to prosecute gangs at the southern border as California attorney general while casting this year’s failed bipartisan border bill as the solution to stopping the unabated flow of illegal immigrants. Senate Republicans blocked the bill twice, saying it didn’t go far enough to curtail illegal immigration.
Harris said her “values have not changed” on securing the border, despite expressing support for decriminalizing illegal border crossings during her 2019 presidential bid.
Lankford contends that Harris and her staff did not take part in negotiations at any point, despite the White House and Senate Democrats trying to take responsibility for the legislation.
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Robert Y. Shapiro, a political science professor from Columbia University, said Harris must continue moderating on immigration to pick up where Biden left off with his shift on the issue.
“The drawbacks are accusations of flip-flopping, but the benefits could be providing a sense of responding to what the people at large want and moving toward the goals of dealing with climate change and health care, etc., in a more incremental, deliberative way,” Shapiro told The Epoch Times.
