• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
SuccessKamala Harris

What Kamala Harris is doing right—and wrong—in the lead-up to Election Day, according to former press sec. Jen Psaki

By
Jane Thier
Jane Thier
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jane Thier
Jane Thier
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 25, 2024, 5:02 AM ET
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 10: Jen Psaki speaks onstage during the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 10, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW)
Kamala Harris “is basically saying to people, ‘You’re invited into this party. We want you to be a part of this,’” Psaki said.Amy E. Price—Getty Images

Jen Psaki, a former communications lead for President Barack Obama and first White House press secretary for President Joe Biden, thinks the Democrats have a strong chance of taking it all in November.

Recommended Video

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is focused pretty squarely on the right strategy at the moment, Psaki, currently the host of MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki, told Fortune in an interview Wednesday. Namely, appealing to elusive undecided voters. 

The Harris team is “working to convert and convince and persuade voters who may not have made a final decision,” explained Psaki. One such effort in that direction was the Democratic nominee’s recent series of campaign events with Liz Cheney, aimed at galvanizing never-Trump Republicans, mainly women. 

One potentially surprising roadblock: Harris isn’t Biden, and Biden remains “very popular among many, many Democrats.” 

The President’s decision this summer to end his campaign only made him more popular, Psaki said. “He is very popular among older white voters, which is a group of voters that [Harris] needs to continue to expand her base of support with.”

Any candidate, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, shouldn’t be focusing just on galvanizing their own base and mobilizing people to show up at the ballot box—though that’s certainly “always a big message,” she added.

The crux of Harris’s issue, in these crucial final days, is to make clear to the Biden lovers out there—and there are many in the Democratic party, Psaki said—that she values and respects her predecessor, and she’s honored to be his potential successor.

But she has to toe the line and also express that she’ll “pave a different road in some areas,” Psaki said. “I think that is a tricky road, but it is certainly possible to implement.”

Courting the never-Trump Republicans

Harris “is basically saying to people, ‘You’re invited into this party. We want you to be a part of this.’” Psaki said. “That, to me, is a recognition that in order to win, you have to expand the base of the electorate.”

There’s another factor the Harris campaign would do well to keep top of mind, Psaki added. Aside from being infamously bombastic and off-the-cuff, Trump is still an “incumbent of sorts.” That advantage makes him even less fit to be underestimated. 

“He’s a former president; he has a high floor of support, meaning there are people who support him, even if, as he were to say, he were to shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue,” Psaki said. “That bends the mind—I think we can all acknowledge that—but he does have that base of support.” 

That base is largely made up of people who feel “forgotten, disappointed, and disgruntled with the government,” she has observed. “And Trump has tapped into and spoken to that pretty consistently since he came up that elevator.” 

Psaki contends Trump isn’t actually fighting for those people: people “living paycheck to paycheck” and those who “feel disappointed by the system.” Trump has also benefited from a “huge amount of disinformation.” 

Nonetheless, “sometimes people forget that he is a former president,” she said. “He was the leader of the Republican Party. Has been for nearly a decade, and there is a base of support that comes with that.”

Making her own name

One thing everyone can agree on, across party lines: There’s no precedent for the current moment. That’s one of Harris’s main challenges in her run against Trump, Psaki said, “even though Harris has far better policies.” 

Then there’s the thorny issue of carrying on the best of Biden’s legacy, while also carving out Harris’s own identity with a newer, younger approach. “She needs to be mindful that [she] also was his vice president—still is his vice president,” Psaki said. “She can’t not run on the things that they have done together, because that is part of her qualification. But it’s not a carbon copy, because events in the world and issues people are grappling with, and circumstances, and even your own positions evolve.” 

Take gay marriage as an example. “Barack Obama was not openly for gay marriage; neither was Joe Biden in the first [Obama] term,” Psaki said. “That changed.” 

A new identity

Then of course there’s Harris’s identity as a Black woman nearly 20 years younger than the president. “She inherently comes to every discussion and debate from a different viewpoint,” Psaki said. “And that does matter, as somebody who sat at a table where I look different sometimes, just as being a woman, from other people at the table. That perspective does matter, and I think it’s important for people to remember.”

But the issues of policy may prove to be a consistent thorn in Harris’s side. “As the sitting vice president, just on a technical level, I think there’s a lot of desire to hear and understand from people who are very disappointed,” Psaki said. In particular: Harris’s plans with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian disaster. 

“Negotiations are happening about how to bring about a ceasefire, bring an end to the conflict and the war and the suffering in Israel and Gaza,” Psaki said. But Harris can’t come out with a different position than Biden has. “She’s currently the sitting vice president. She’s not just somebody who primaries the president. So that’s a challenge.”

At the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit, Fortune 500 leaders will convene to explore the defining questions shaping the workforce of the future—delivering bold ideas, powerful connections, and actionable insights for building resilient organizations for the decade ahead. Join Fortune May 19–20 in Atlanta. Register now.
About the Author
By Jane Thier
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Success

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Success

tarot
AICulture
We talked to 12 tarot card readers who are using AI. They split in 2 camps, with big implications for the technology
By Ziv Epstein, Farnaz Jahanbakhsh, Vana Goblot and The ConversationMay 16, 2026
16 hours ago
tom
SuccessEntrepreneurs
Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio got a 15x return on a tech company most Americans have never heard of. He thinks his own industry is broken
By Nick LichtenbergMay 16, 2026
20 hours ago
Kurt Alexander, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts
SuccessCareers
Gen Z wants AI-proof jobs. The president of a 50-property hotel chain says hospitality is hiding in plain sight
By Preston ForeMay 16, 2026
21 hours ago
cyborg
Future of WorkProductivity
AI’s cyborg problem: you have to embrace it to really succeed but 90% of people can’t or don’t want to
By Nick LichtenbergMay 16, 2026
22 hours ago
connor vukelich
Future of WorkGen Z
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z’s entry-level job crisis
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
23 hours ago
alex
Future of WorkGen Z
Leaders, stop with the Gen Z generalizations 
By Alex CooperMay 16, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
19 hours ago
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
Politics
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
9 hours ago
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
Future of Work
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
23 hours ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
4 days ago
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisMay 16, 2026
19 hours ago
Despite having a $165 million net worth, Scarlett Johansson says work-life balance doesn’t exist—and the first step to success is admitting that
Success
Despite having a $165 million net worth, Scarlett Johansson says work-life balance doesn’t exist—and the first step to success is admitting that
By Preston ForeMay 13, 2026
4 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.