Lessons from a decade of Kamala Harris debates

Preparation is key

A central theme in Harris's past debates is that she clearly prepares for her debates, often armed with very specific policy and statistical details or attacks on her opponents.

That preparation has paid off for Harris in some big moments – but also in some that haven’t gone so well.

In her Democratic debates, she tried to distinguish herself by presenting concrete aspects of her political program. To support her point of view, she regularly rattled off key statistics and repeated buzzwords and quotable statements.

When Harris was asked to outline her specific plans on immigration during her first appearance on the Democratic presidential debate stage in June 2019, she was ready.

“I will immediately on January 20, 2021 – first of all, we must not forget our DACA recipients, and that's why I'm going to start there. I will immediately restore DACA status and DACA protections to these young people by executive action,” she said. She then went on to list plans for more deportation stays, asylum reviews, improving conditions in detention centers, and completely eliminating private detention centers.

During her debate with Pence in 2020, Harris pounced on the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “the greatest failure of a presidential administration in the history of our country” before rattling off a series of statistics on deaths, infectious diseases, closed businesses, impacts on field workers and the rise in unemployment.

Brokaw, who managed Harris' campaign for California attorney general and advised her on her 2016 Senate campaign, praised her attention to detail.

“She would want to spend a lot of time having a thorough conversation about the substance,” Brokaw said. “That can be frustrating for the people doing the preparation, because we wanted to make it clear that you just need a good, punchy soundbite to best make your point. But she actually wants a thorough understanding of every issue that could potentially come up.”

While Brokaw acknowledged that over-preparation carries certain risks, she stressed that Harris' experience as a prosecutor in the courtroom also makes her very responsive.

Nevertheless, Harris took clear positions on several occasions or landed clear blows on her rivals, which may have helped her at the time, but ultimately proved to be a mistake.

The most prominent example of this came during the first Democratic presidential debate in 2019, when she criticized her then-rival Joe Biden for his opposition to using federal funds to desegregate schools through school busing.

“There was a little girl in California who was in the second grade that had integrated her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me,” Harris said in a moment that resonated around the stage.

Harris's campaign team immediately launched merchandise and fundraisers around the comments, seemingly giving her candidacy a boost of energy as she sought to stand out from the crowd. But more ambiguous messaging on the issue in the days that followed sapped her momentum, and the issue – and Harris' primary campaign – both faded.

“It's clear she has these things rehearsed and ready, waiting for the viral moment,” said Marc Short, Pence's former chief of staff and NBC News contributor. He added that this may be one reason why Harris' campaign unsuccessfully pushed to keep the microphones unmuted throughout the debate in search of a viral moment that could push back against Trump.

A related problem also emerged when looking back at her 2019 debates: Many of the positions she took when trying to appeal to the Democratic primary electorate are exactly the kind of policies Trump could champion on stage next week.

It was a tactic that Pence used in 2020 and that Short said could work well for Trump as well.

“It would be even better for Trump because she has since revoked all of those positions. The border is one of Trump's best issues,” he added, referring to Harris' 2018 call to “critically examine ICE and its role.”

“The question is: Can Trump actually prosecute a political case?” Short asked.

Breaking the fourth wall

Some of the most notable moments from Harris' past debates have included the times when she effectively broke the fourth wall, reacting in real time to her opponents' answers and attempting to win the audience over to her side.

At the beginning of her first debate in the presidential primaries, Harris took a moment to address her fellow candidates and the audience, portraying herself as someone above the bickering of a group of politicians talking over each other.

“Hey, guys, you know what? America doesn't want to see a food fight, they want to know how we put food on their table,” she said to applause that gave her the opportunity to respond on the issue of economic inequality.

During her 2010 debate for California Attorney General, such a moment became a key factor in her victory against Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley.

As the debate was nearly over, a moderator asked Cooley if he planned to receive both a pension and a salary if elected. Cooley replied that he did, and criticized the attorney general's “incredibly low salary.”

When asked if she had anything else to add, Harris simply pointed to Cooley and said, “Go ahead, Steve,” and laughed. Her campaign quickly turned Cooley's response into a TV ad in Los Angeles County, thereby diminishing his voter base.

Six years later, Harris' opponent in the Senate, then-Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, “dabbed” after her closing argument. The dance move was not captured on the debate stream, but later went viral when a local news reporter shared the video online.

Although Sanchez's dance move was initially unclear to viewers, Harris responded with wide eyes. She laughed loudly and portrayed herself as a more serious candidate than Sanchez. She began by saying, “So there is a clear difference between the candidates in this race.”

“She knows exactly when to strike and when to maybe let the opponent do the damage himself,” Brokaw said.

Harris frequently broke the fourth wall in her debate against Pence, looking directly into the camera and addressing viewers directly. At one point, for example, she said, “America, you deserve better,” after echoing Trump's controversial comments about Mexican immigrants, the Proud Boys and the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Harris has also pointed to the historic nature of her candidacies, signaling to viewers to think about women in those positions. From her 2010 attorney general debate to her 2019 presidential debates, Harris made a point of using the pronouns “she” and “her” when referring to those officeholders.

Dealing with criticism

Harris has often handled critical moments in previous debates by taking notes. ABC News debate rules do not allow candidates to bring prepared notes, but they are provided with a pen and notepad, the network said Thursday.

And her past debates offer a preview of how Harris might respond to attacks on her record. In 2020, Pence criticized her past support of the so-called Green New Deal, her vote against a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement and provided an analysis calling Harris the most liberal senator.

In some cases, Harris directed criticism at the Trump administration. But when asked about her support for the Green New Deal, Harris looked directly into the camera and said, “Joe Biden is not going to ban fracking. That's a fact.”

Some of her most memorable and direct debate clashes in 2019 occurred with former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who now supports Trump. After Gabbard criticized the Democratic Party during the November 2019 debate, Harris attempted to criminally prosecute her.

“It's unfortunate that we have here on stage someone who is trying to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States and who spent four years full-time at Fox News during the Obama administration criticizing President Obama,” she said, chiding Gabbard for pandering to Trump.

When Gabbard fought back, Harris didn't take the bait. Instead, she resorted to her campaign's elevator pitch and slogan: Kamala Harris for the people.