‘Ripping off working people’ vs ‘dangerously liberal’: Harris and Trump roll out ads attacking each other in strong terms

Harris’s ad underlines her record as a prosecutor, while Trump’s accuses her of wanting ‘open borders’

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally in Wisconsin on July 23, two days after becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for president (Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has launched a $50 million ad buy in hopes of introducing her to voters by highlighting her background as a hard-charging California prosecutor who rose to be the Golden State’s top law enforcement official.

The Harris campaign on Tuesday rolled out its first major television advertisement, called “Fearless,” and featuring footage taken from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin rally she held last week.

The 30-second spot opens with a narrator stating that “fearless” is “the one thing Kamala Harris has always been.”

The voiceover continues by relating how she “put murders and abusers behind bars” as a prosecutor and “went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners” as California’s Attorney General.

“And as vice president, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors. Because Kamala Harris has always known who she represents,” the narrator says, just before Harris herself is heard stating: “This campaign is about who we fight for.”

“We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead; where every senior can retire with dignity. But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward, to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act. But we are not going back,” she says.

A press release from her campaign announcing the television spot says the ad is meant to “remind voters of who she is” and calls Harris “a fighter who has never been afraid to take on the powerful and special interests on behalf of the American people.”

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the vice president’s campaign chair, said in a statement that Harris “has always stood up to bullies, criminals and special interests on behalf of the American people – and she’s beaten them.”

“She’s uniquely suited to take on Donald Trump, a convicted felon who has spent his entire life ripping off working people, tearing away our rights, and fighting for himself. This $50 million paid media campaign, bolstered by our record-setting fundraising haul and a groundswell of grassroots enthusiasm, is one crucial way we will reach and make our case to the voters who will decide this election,” O’Malley Dillon said.

The new advertisement is hitting airwaves in battleground states between Tuesday and the start of the Democratic National Convention next month. According to Harris campaign sources, the introductory, biographical ad is meant to give voters a picture of who Harris is, since polling and other research shows Americans aren’t aware of her record despite her time as vice president over the last three and a half years.

It comes as her Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, is rolling out an ad campaign of his own with the aim of defining the vice president as a toxic and extreme figure with “dangerously liberal” policy positions.

The Trump ad focuses on Harris’ record as what Republicans call her “border czar” role — in reality a diplomatic portfolio focusing on reducing migration from South and Central America rather than one focused on stopping border crossings.

The television spot accuses her of believing in “open borders” and suggests that she “plans on not only allowing millions more illegal aliens into our country, but also rewarding them with taxpayer-funded benefits and amnesty.”

A Trump campaign adviser, Danielle Alvarez, said in a statement that Harris’s “failure” to reduce crossings “has made America less safe.”

“Migrant crime is up, terrorists have entered through her open border, fentanyl deaths are exploding, and human trafficking is impacting every states. Harris is dangerously liberal and Americans are paying the price,” she said.