Set to Beyoncé's "Freedom," Kamala Harris' first national ad did something rare for a politician: It included the "freedom to be safe" among the litany of fundamental freedoms that matter to Americans.
Why is this so unique? Ever since the infamous Willie Horton ad of 1988, which traded in racist tropes of criminality, neither political party has owned the mantle of safety. Rather, both wield crime as a political cudgel—an endless debate of who is "tough" versus "soft." The GOP's standard line is that crime is out of control, Democrats are to blame, and being tough on crime is the only answer. The standard Democratic response is either silence or an attempt to look even tougher than Republicans. Today, polling shows that the "tough" playbook that worked with voters three decades ago no longer has the same potency.
Yet despite "tough-on-crime" messaging losing its luster, the GOP has signaled it will "Willie Horton" Kamala Harris and make crime a central issue in this year's race. Already, it is running ads that take Harris' past statements about policing and criminal justice reform out of context to fearmonger around crime. This tactic is unsurprising, as we saw the GOP deploy attack lines in 2022 of "Democrats are dangerously liberal" to the tune of $157 million in political ads. Democrats rarely responded, instead pivoting to other issues, like democracy or abortion. Despite the near-universal prediction that these attacks would result in a Democratic wipeout, no "red wave" came—not in 2020 nor in 2022. This result aligns with polling and other recent electoral results showing that being tough on crime is not a surefire political winner.
But it's not as if the crime attacks have no effect. For Democrats, some of the toughest losses or near losses in recent cycles are a result of their candidates being "Willie Hortoned." And the political punditry in the aftermath inevitably lands on the same outdated conclusion: candidates just have to prove their "tough-on-crime" bona fides.
All this is why Vice President Harris' adoption of safety as a fundamental freedom is such a breath of fresh air. Like many other firsts in her already historic campaign, it shows that she is a new candidate, with new momentum, and a new opportunity to create a forward-looking narrative about safe communities, not to dwell in the fear of crime.
Here is how she can do it:
Vice President Harris has only a short time to define herself to the American public before the "soft-on-crime" attacks harden voter perceptions of her. Owning safety as a fundamental freedom, rather than staying on the GOP's narrative turf, is an excellent start. She can counter former president Donald Trump's predictable "soft-on-crime" attacks and "Make America Safe Again" rhetoric by framing the election as a stark choice between real solutions for safety and GOP scare tactics on crime. But Harris' campaign must invest in this message by talking about safety on the campaign trail, running ads, and highlighting proven programs that prevent crime and improve everyone's quality of life. My organization, Vera Action, tested such an ad in Virginia after its competitive 2023 election, and it outperformed both Republican attack ads and typical Democratic responses. The Harris campaign has some catching up to do: According to AdImpact, in 2024 alone, the GOP has spent $24.8 million on crime ads compared to a paltry $10.8 million by Democrats.
Vice President Harris' entry into the presidential race has energized Black voters, whose support President Biden's campaign was losing at an alarming rate. To win over these voters, as well as young and even independent voters, Vice President Harris should also loudly champion justice. In contrast to former president Trump cynically exploiting his own felony convictions to claim he has something in common with Black voters, Harris' support for criminal justice reform—including co-sponsoring the Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act with Republican Senator Rand Paul (Ky.), calling for police accountability with the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and protecting victims by proposing to clear rape kit backlogs and prosecute consumer fraud—remains popular. When the Trump camp attacks Harris for her support of criminal legal reform, as it has already done, Harris shouldn't distance herself or disavow her previous positions. Instead, she should own them and reinforce the contrast between real solutions for safety and scare tactics.
Finally, there is the omnipresent narrative contrasting Harris' long tenure as a prosecutor with Trump's felony convictions—a narrative Vice President Harris is already harnessing. Reducing Trump to a convicted felon is a version of the "Willie Horton"-style tactics that Democrats decry, and only stigmatizes the more than 24 million Americans with a felony conviction. As a political tactic, it fails to move the 47 percent of voters who believe Trump's criminal cases are politically motivated. Deeper than the shallow (and likely ineffective) "prosecutor-versus-felon" plotline that has dominated the headlines since Harris entered the race, the vice president can make the case that she stands for the people—that turn of phrase that prosecutors use every day in court—in contrast to Donald Trump, who acts as if he is above the law and stands only for himself.
Kamala Harris' campaign has called the vice president a "pragmatic prosecutor." That might be the new narrative on safety that has so long eluded her party. Harris should tell the American people, "I'm not tough or soft on crime; progressive or conservative about reform. I'm pragmatic about the solutions that work to deliver safety, accountability, and justice."
That's a narrative that will finally put Willie Horton to bed.
Insha Rahman is the vice president of advocacy and partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice and the director of Vera Action.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
