Democratic strategist Van Jones said Tuesday's presidential debate will be a “job interview” for Vice President Harris, who needs to make her case to the American people without focusing too much on the “class clown” next to her.
“This is a job interview for her,” Jones said of the debate during a panel discussion on CNN's “Erin Burnett Outfront” on Monday night. “She has a popular guy sitting next to her who's hurling profanities and spitting at her. But at the end of the day, the audience is not Donald Trump, and it's not the two interviewers at ABC.”
“The audience is the American public who are 'curious about Kamala,'” he continued. “They're open, but they don't know enough about her to close the deal.”
The comments came ahead of Tuesday night's crucial debate, a chance for the American public to hear directly from the candidates on a range of policy issues.
Harris has faced criticism for reversing some of the policy positions she put forward when she ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. She addressed those concerns in a recent interview with CNN, her first major interview as the Democratic candidate, in which she said her values haven't changed but that she's learned a lot as vice president and has evolved since then.
Jones added that he expects Trump to “make every move about the past,” but that “she has to focus on the future.”
“She's going to have to fight back,” he said. “This is a job interview, and the American people are far more important than Donald Trump.”
The Trump campaign has also tried to link Harris to some of the Biden administration's less popular events, such as the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, and has tried to blame her for public concerns about the economy and immigration.
When asked at the debate how she could effectively counter these trends, Jones said, “Number one, she has a lot to be proud of and she's going to make her case,” noting the need to focus on the future.
The Hill has reached out to both camps for comment.
