Harris campaign releases new ad to build on convention momentum

CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is releasing a new television ad in battleground states with a message aimed at the middle class, in its first major move after the convention.

In the ad, titled “Opportunity,” Harris speaks directly to the camera about the importance of lowering costs and taxes on middle-class Americans. It’s a topic voters often list among their top concerns, one that President Joe Biden had struggled to gain credit for even though various economic indicators have improved during his time in office.

“Here’s a few things I believe. Middle-class families, like the one I grew up in, they want common sense solutions,” Harris says, as the ad shows a photo of her and her sister as young children standing with their mother. “You want lower prices and lower taxes, I believe you want to not just get by, but you want to get ahead.”

The new ad, part of an eight-figure buy, will soon begin airing in seven battleground states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada — as well as in Nebraska, a state which splits its electoral college votes.

The ad also shows her in a diner and in several small businesses. It never mentions her Republican rival, Donald Trump, but several times shows her with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“We must create an opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to get a car loan, buy a home, start a business,” Harris says. “But most of all, that instead of being focused on the politics of the past, we need to be thinking about the future.”

The ad comes a week after Harris rolled out a populist economic agenda during a speech in North Carolina, providing a more detailed vision of her governing priorities, including eliminating medical debt for millions of Americans, banning what she termed “price gouging” for groceries and food, capping prescription drug costs and providing a $25,000 credit for first-time home buyers.

Charles Lutvak, a spokesman for the Harris-Walz campaign, said that improving conditions for the middle class “will be a central goal of her administration” and will be a “a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who will only help the ultrarich and corporations while raising costs for middle class families.”

Following her convention speech Thursday night, Harris is planning to depart Chicago Friday afternoon and return to Washington. She isn’t expected to have any events this weekend, but campaign aides say that she is planning to hit the campaign trail again next week.