The Election Reset

Kamala Harris has announced her running mate, bringing on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to join her ticket. The candidates appeared before crowds nearing 20,000 this week, drawing a stark contrast to rallies held previously by Joe Biden. Meanwhile, J. D. Vance took to the campaign trail, trying to make a positive impact for Donald Trump.

In the less than three weeks since Biden said he would not be seeking reelection, Democrats have gathered energy around Harris’s candidacy. But Trump continues to struggle with reinventing his campaign. “The one person who’s still talking about Biden in American politics has been Donald Trump,” Susan Glasser said last night on Washington Week With The Atlantic. “What it speaks to is that Trump has … really struggled, I think, to come up with a retooled campaign.”

For the past few years, the Trump campaign has effectively been building a consistent message that places the former president against Biden from all angles. “They don’t necessarily have that for Kamala Harris,” Adam Harris said last night. Still, even as Trump reorients his campaign, both candidates face the issue of whether their campaigns will turn out key voters on Election Day.

Joining the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times; Susan Glasser, a staff writer at The New Yorker; Adam Harris, a contributing writer at The Atlantic; and Michael Scherer, a national political reporter at The Washington Post.

Watch the full episode here.