Since replacing her boss atop the 2024 Democratic ticket, Kamala Harris has cast herself as an agent of generational change who would open "a new way forward" for the American people. But even if a younger and undeniably more sprightly figure is now bearing the party's message, political observers and voters may feel that message is oddly familiar, reviving an old conception that's been stored in the political attic for the last eight years.
In Joe Biden's acceptance speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, he uttered the phrase "middle class" just once. When it was Harris' turn to accept the nomination this August, she used it nine times.
