Democrats are warning that Vice President Harris needs to solidify her economic message before former President Trump ties her to a narrative that plagued President Biden while he was the nominee.

Before Biden's withdrawal from the race last month, the economy was the dominant issue for voters, with a string of polls indicating that Trump was winning on that matter. The surveys concluded that voters trusted Trump on economic issues more than they trusted Biden.

But for the last six weeks, the news cycles have been dominated by a rash of political headlines including the uncertainty in the Democratic Party following Biden’s disastrous debate performance, an attempted assassination on Trump, the former president’s selection of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate and the Republican National Convention.

Less than a week later, the transition from Biden to Harris overtook the headlines, followed by a two-week wave of enthusiasm for Harris, only accelerated by the attention around her own veepstakes.

Democrats haven’t had to worry much about policy during that time, and Republicans have focused largely on identity politics, including Harris’s race and ethnicity But Democrats say Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, must go on the offensive on the economy before Republicans bring it back to the forefront of the campaign.

“The big question is, ‘Can you win the message war there? Can you convince the hearts and minds, and win the conversation on what the future looks like?’ Payne said. “Obviously Republicans traditionally have an advantage on this. But while you’re litigating the last 3 years, you need to make sure you’re putting it into context about, “Who do you trust in the future,” on the economy.”

At the moment, Harris is “getting a free pass” when it comes to the economy and other top policy issues, one major Democratic donor said. “But they need to be ready to have a solid economic argument at their fingertips,” the donor cautioned. “Biden struggled to articulate that message.”

The economy is gaining in urgency as an issue as it near an inflection point following a period of interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening undertaken by the........

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