© Darron Cummings/Associated Press

The race is on to define Vice President Harris.

The Harris and Trump campaigns are scrambling to get up to speed in the aftermath of President Biden’s dramatic exit from the race.

Harris is tasked with building a campaign on the fly, while also presenting an image that connects with voters being introduced to her for the first time on the biggest stage in politics.

Republicans, meanwhile, were planning on running against Biden. They spent last week’s convention casting him as too old for another term, but now find themselves up against a much younger opponent.

Here’s how both sides are racing to define Harris:

• The Harris campaign released its first campaign video Thursday, called “We Choose Freedom." The video highlights the Democrats’ diverse base and asks, "What kind of country do we want to live in?"
  
  
• The ad chooses a framing of “freedom” over “democracy.” Many political watchers believe the attacks on Trump for subverting democracy have been a dud.
  
  
• The ad casts Trump as the candidate of “chaos, fear and hate.” In the video, Harris says “no one is above the law” over pictures of Trump’s mugshot.
  
  
• Harris cut a video at the Werk Room for "RuPaul's Drag Race," signaling that her campaign will reach outside of politics into popular culture.

On the GOP side...

• Trump railed against Harris at a rally in North Carolina Wednesday, casting her as too liberal to be elected. Trump called her “the original Marxist” and a “radical left lunatic.” He accused her of being soft on crime: “She wants no bail. If you murder someone, just go home and relax.”
  
  
• Trump is getting a boost from House Republicans, who voted on Thursday to condemn Harris’s handling of the border. Biden tasked Harris with addressing the root causes that have led to migrant caravans from Central America arriving at the border.
  
  

Notably, six Democrats in swing districts voted with Republicans to condemn Harris: Reps. Yadira Caraveo (Colo.), Donald Davis (N.C.), Jared Golden (Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Mary Peltola (Alaska).

Of those, only Caraveo has publicly endorsed Harris. Golden told The Hill he is not committed to voting for Harris.

While Republicans missed an opportunity to focus on Harris at last week’s convention, they’re winning the air wars this week.

• An Associated Press analysis found Trump is outspending Harris by 25-1 on television and radio advertising at the moment. That’s $68 million compared to $2.6 million.
  
  
• MAGA, Inc., the largest pro-Trump super PAC, is going up with new attack ads against Harris. The group is putting $12 million behind the ads that will run in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona between now and Labor Day.
  
  

Of course, the Harris campaign is rushing to put its ad strategy together and those dynamics will change in the coming weeks. 

The Harris campaign will be flush with cash, drawing on both the Biden campaign’s war chest, as well as the more than $100 million they’ve raised on their own so far this week.

Perspectives:

• The Hill: Harris coronation ignores question the press should be asking.
• The Free Press: Gaslighting the public on Harris as "border czar."
• Compact: Sean O'Brien's brave gambit.
• The American Prospect: Harris has an opportunity on SCOTUS reform.

Read more:

• GOP faces time crunch to define Harris.
• DNC gives would-be Harris rivals 3 days to declare.

Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent rate in the second quarter, blowing past expectations.
  
  
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order to clear thousands of homeless encampments across the state.
  
  

• NORAD intercepted bombers from China and Russia off the Alaskan coast.
  
  

• Southwest will start assigning seats, breaking a 50-year tradition.

©  AASHISH KIPHAYET/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Vice President Harris condemned the left-wing protesters who clashed with police and defaced monuments with anti-Semitic slogans in front of Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress.

“I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews,” Harris said in a statement. “Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation.”

“I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way,” she added.

Protesters burned an American flag and hoisted Palestinian flags, while masked rioters fought with the police.

House Republicans restored the American flags on Thursday morning, while cleaning crews scrubbed pro-Hamas graffiti from the Columbus statue and Liberty Bell replica.

Harris's statement underscores the tricky politics Democrats face in their approach to the war in Gaza.

• Hundreds of thousands of Democrats voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary to protest President Biden, believing he’s not doing enough to stop the killing of innocent Gazans caught in the crossfire of the war.
  
  
• Harris, who did not attend Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress, will meet with the Netanyahu privately at the White House on Thursday, where aides say she’ll voice support for Israel’s right to defend itself but will push back on bombings that have killed civilians.

The vice president has a tightrope to walk to support Israel's efforts to defeat Hamas, while also signaling to the left that she’ll push back on what some in the party have described as war crimes.

Biden, who met with Netanyahu at the White House earlier in the day, is hoping to coordinate a peace deal and secure the release of hostages before he leaves office in January. 

Read more:

• “Uncommitted” Democratic primary voters face question with Harris.
• Burning of U.S. flags trigger political attacks.
• Netanyahu urges unity, but stirs a firestorm.
• Memorable moments from Netanyahu’s address to Congress.

Former President Trump leads Vice President Harris in most of the battlegrounds that will determine the outcome of the 2024 election, but Harris is running closer than President Biden before he dropped out.

The latest surveys from Emerson College/The Hill:

AZ: Trump +5 ... GA: Trump +2 ... PA: Trump +2 ... MI: Trump +1 ... WI: Tied

Here’s how many points Harris is outpacing Biden by in each state:

AZ: +4 ... GA: +5 ... PA: +3 ... MI: +3 ... WI: +4

Two new national polls released Thursday find Trump and Harris running neck-and-neck. The latest New York Times/Siena College survey finds Trump leading by 1 point, while the new Morning Consult poll finds Harris ahead by 1 point.

A CNN national poll from earlier in the week found Harris doing 8 points better than Biden among Black voters and 6 points better among Hispanics, which could boost her in the swing states.

• Black voters make up 12 percent of the electorate nationally, but they make up 34 percent in Georgia and 21 percent in North Carolina.
  
  
• Hispanic voters make up 10 percent of the electorate nationally, but 21 percent in Arizona and 19 percent in Nevada.

From CNN’s election analyst Harry Enten: 

“Kamala Harris is doing SIGNIFICANTLY better than Joe Biden is among Black and Hispanic voters. Why is that important? It means that while Biden had really one path to win the electoral college, Harris has multiple. Specifically, she can win in the Sun Belt (AZ, GA, NC, & NV).”

Perspectives:

• The Memo: Where Harris stands in the battlegrounds against Trump.
• Sean Trende: Republicans should expect Harris to make it a close race.

The list is growing.

CBS reports that Harris is considering “approximately a dozen” candidates, including Govs. Josh Shapiro (Pa.), Roy Cooper (N.C.), Andy Beshear (Ky.), Tim Walz (Minn.), JB Pritzker (Ill.) and Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.). 

The list also includes Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Admiral William McRaven, among others.

You can see the jockeying, lobbying and tryouts taking place in real time...

• Beshear becomes top attack dog against Vance.
• Gallego: Kelly would give Harris ticket a “jolt.”
• Wes Moore: Harris is the best candidate to defeat Trump.
• Whitmer: Harris has more experience than the entire GOP ticket combined.
• Gluesenkamp-Perez backs Buttigieg.
• Beto O’Rourke pushes for Walz.
• Arizona Republic: Harris doesn’t scare Republicans but Kelly would.

©  Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The House unanimously passed a resolution creating a 13-member task force to investigate the assassination attempt on former President Trump.

It was a rare 416-0 vote.

Republicans had pushed for Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) to be excluded from the committee for promoting legislation that would have stripped Trump of his Secret Service protection due to his felony convictions.

Thompson reacts: “I don’t even want to be on it. I’ve never expressed an interest.”

Read more:

• Trump expected to draw heavily from Senate to fill Cabinet.
• House GOP passes bill cutting EPA funding by 20 percent.
• Tax system goes digital after IRS funding boost.

"Biden should have given this speech a year ago," by Anthony L. Fisher for MSNBC.

"Biden reset the race. Is it better late than never?," by Will Marshall for The Hill.

"The Supreme Court ruled to safeguard civil rights but nobody is talking about it," by Ronald J. Stephens for The Hill. — Author 1 (Read here)

"Putin's shadow looms over Paris Olympics," by Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet for The Hill. 

25 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

47 days until the second presidential debate.

103 days until the 2024 general election.

179 days until Inauguration Day 2025.

Friday

• Biden travels to Camp David.
• Trump holds a fundraiser in Nashville.
• The Summer Olympics get underway in Paris.

There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: jeasley@thehill.com

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