When Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the Democrats’ presidential nominee, she ignored President Joe Biden’s old message about the “soul of the nation,” leaning instead on “joy” and the “opportunity economy,” while she portrayed her opponents as ‘weird’.

Now, on the home stretch, Harris is reviving reporting on former President Donald Trump’s perceived threat to American democracy, reviving a tactic that failed to halt her boss’ election skid but that Democrats hope will it could be part of a winning closing argument amid increasingly dark rhetoric from her challenger.

“I’m really happy that they’re bringing back the Democratic argument because I think it creates a permission structure for people who are anti-Trump Republicans, and it fires up our base. So that’s twins,” the veteran Democratic strategist said. Peter Giangreco. “You’ve got to keep the abortion thing going. You’ve got to keep the economic contrast going, where he’s going to give billionaires breaks and they’re going to cut taxes.”

“It’s not one size fits all,” Giangreco added. But Trump, I think, made a big mistake with ‘the enemy within.’ I think it’s a huge opening and I’m glad they’re jumping on it.”

The tactical shift comes as Trump intensifies talk of “the enemy within” amid concerns that Election Day will be peaceful.

“We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics,” Trump said on Fox News on Sunday. “And I think it should be handled very easily by, if necessary, by the National Guard or, if it’s really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”

Harris has seized on the comments and appears more open to calling the former president a “fascist,” saying in her own interview on Fox News Wednesday that it is “clear to me” that Trump is “unfit to serve that he is unstable. that he is dangerous.”

“This is a democracy, and in a democracy, the president of the United States in the United States of America should be willing to take criticism without saying he would lock people up for it,” she said.

“If he wins, he will ignore all the checks that rein in a president’s power,” a narrator warned in a new Harris ad released Thursday.

The willingness to focus on the perceived threats Trump poses to the country’s democratic foundations marks a reversal of Harris’ original strategy from the summer, when media coverage was awash with notes about how different her more upbeat tone was compared with Biden’s more serious campaign, which focused on extensively about the character of the nation.

That shift came amid a broader Democratic struggle to bring change to Biden’s failed campaign, which was under pressure after his ruinous debate performance in June. But Democrats who spoke to ABC News emphasized that the democracy mission remains strong — especially given Trump’s rhetoric — and that Biden’s failure to prosecute the case had more to do with the messenger than the message.

“It is now of utmost importance for Kamala to ensure that the American people understand what the choice is in this election,” said a Democratic pollster.

“The challenge with Biden is that optically, and this is unfair and unfortunate, but people just couldn’t get past the optics of a weak-looking older man trying to be president for another four years,” the person added.

This time, with a different messenger, Harris’ team hopes that combining warnings about democracy might appeal to a small group of voters who are genuinely unsure about who to vote for, but even more voters who are frustrated about their choices and wondering or to vote at all — especially, said Democrats, Trump-skeptical, Harris-curious conservatives.

There is already a precedent for breaking such a strategy.

Faced with the prospect of a red wave in 2022, Democrats instead defied the odds by expanding their majority in the Senate and minimizing losses in the House on an insurrection-talk playbook of January 6, 2021 and the repeal of federal abortion protections. And research shared within the campaign found that casting Trump as unstable and Harris as a steady leader is an effective way to sway voters this cycle, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“There is a very small portion that … debates between the vice president and Trump. But there is a larger segment of these persuadable voters who are trying to decide between a third party or writing or just staying home. And I do that too. “I think this argument is getting some traction, especially among older voters and many of the voters who may be more conservatively oriented and may have reservations about both candidates,” said a source familiar with the Harris campaign’s thinking.

Robert Blizzard, a Republican Party pollster, said Democrats could find repeated success with such an argument.

“I’m not sure voters have made up their minds about that yet,” he said when asked whether voters had made up their minds about whether “democracy” is a key issue for them. “But leaning on the 2022 playbook that helped Democrats turn the tide of a red wave — the democracy angle combined with abortion was certainly effective as a contrast for the left.”

Trump’s campaign, in turn, rejected the new tactic.

“It’s the end of the fourth quarter and Kamala is playing the same losing game that has never won the Democrats the game. No one believes the lie that President Trump is a threat to democracy because he was president for four years and our democracy, including ours on the world stage, was stronger than it is now under Kamala Harris. Kamala resorts to lies because she can’t talk about policy,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

To be fair, Democrats aren’t predicting Harris will completely replace her messaging about the “opportunity economy” and other pro-democracy campaign plans, but she will likely have it as one of many tools in her toolbox.

“I don’t believe that preserving democracy will be their closing argument. I expect they will return to some version of turning the page, moving forward, working together, the opportunity economy, finding ways to secure the border,” Jim said. Kessler of the center-left think tank Third Way.

Still, “Trump has given them opportunities in unscripted moments. And part of that is democracy,” Kessler added.

And, Democrats said, Harris would be remiss if he didn’t take advantage of an opening at home when a particular issue could help move a voter off the sidelines. And with tight polls and such a short runway for the election, the race has turned into a trench war, leaving both sides looking for a way to gain the edge when the fighting ends on November 5.

“I see it more as people maybe still not sure if they feel like voting or if they want to vote, and this is a way to give them a stake in the election,” said a Democratic strategist with ties with Harris’ team. .

“At this point in the campaign,” Kessler added, “if they generate stories that put Trump and his team on the defensive, then they are successful on that day.”