It’s a brand new race as Harris moves forward with a strong start

Vice President Kamala Harris has seized the opportunity to win the Democratic nomination, raising millions and going after Donald Trump with prosecutorial zeal, while also focusing on the economy and reproductive rights.

President Biden’s selfless decision to drop out of the presidential race has paved the way for Kamala Harris to move forward. She quickly seized the opportunity and within 48 hours, had secured enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination, raised millions and ripped into Donald Trump.

The vice president went after the former president with prosecutorial zeal in a speech at her national campaign headquarters. She told supporters, “I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type.”

The presidential race should be a clear and compelling contrast between a seasoned prosecutor and a convicted felon. Harris served as the Alameda County (Oakland and   suburbs) district attorney and California attorney general before she was elected to the U.S. Senate. That experience has served her well. Her comment about Trump demonstrates that her instinct is to go straight for the jugular. Exactly, the quality necessary to defeat the former failed president.

The new Democratic standard-bearer should also apply that zeal to her message on the economy. Greedy corporate executives like Trump have rewarded themselves with record profits while hard working families suffer. The vice president should aggressively go after big business, break up corporate trusts and prevent price gouging.

The woman who is Biden’s point person on reproductive rights is the perfect candidate to make the case against the GOP threat to ban all abortions and make family planning and in vitro fertilization more difficult. It’s up to her to remind voters that Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court eliminated freedom of choice for millions of women across the United States. If Trump’s supporters in Congress and in state houses have their way, millions of more women will suffer the same fate.

The new Democratic contender needs a message that ties this package of concerns together.

Her entrance after Biden passed the torch removes the age issue that haunted the Democratic effort. Harris can now play the generational card against the former president. At 59, she represents America’s bright future while Trump at 78 wants to return to the dark chapters in our past.

She should state categorically that we are not going back to a corrupt Nixonian dictatorial presidency where unfettered capitalism without consumer and worker protection exists along with back-alley abortions.

A new battleground states poll for The Hill illustrates a tight race between the two White House contenders. Harris has more support in all these states than Biden did two weeks ago. The rise in Democratic support is fueled by an increase in support from young voters.

Trump leads in North Carolina (9 percent), Nevada (9 percent) and Arizona (5 percent). But the race is statistically tied in all the four other battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania. The margin of error for each state is plus or minus 3 points.

North Carolina and Nevada look tough but there’s still hope in the Sun Belt for Harris in Georgia and Arizona. The three Frost Belt states are still in play for the Democratic hopeful.

It’s time for Democrats to get back to basics. The economy is still the dominant issue in the four of these five states. In Arizona, immigration is No. 1, followed by the economy. The threat to democracy is not a big voter concern in any of them.

Gov. Josh Shapiro of the Keystone State would be a strong asset to Harris as a running mate. Like Harris, he served as his state’s attorney general before he reached higher office. He is the most popular Democratic governor in the competitive states. He is more popular in Pennsylvania than Katie Hobbs is in Arizona, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan and Tony Evers in Wisconsin.

There are very few undecided voters in any of these states. These battleground voters are few in number but loom large in the outcome since the contest is so close. They worry about The Donald’s fitness for office but don’t have a strong sense of Harris. Her job is to paint a personal picture for them and get it onto the electoral canvas quickly.

The vice president has lots to do and little time to do it. She has a tough road ahead but her race against Trump is competitive. Harris had a great start and now she needs a strong finish.

Brad Bannon is a Democratic pollster, CEO of Bannon Communications Research and the host of the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.