Axelrod on Harris town hall: ‘It was a mixed night’

Democratic strategist David Axelrod weighed in on Vice President Harris’s recent town hall with CNN, calling it a “mixed night.”

“I think she was very strong coming out of the gate, and she obviously came with a purpose,” Axelrod, who is a CNN contributor, said during a panel interview following the event.

Harris fielded questions from CNN’s Anderson Cooper and voters at the town hall in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. She largely struck to her script, taking questions on the economy, immigration, the war in the Middle East and her views on her Republican challenger, former President Trump.

Axelrod, in comments highlighted by Mediaite, said Harris was “obviously well prepared” to answer questions about a recent claim from Trump’s former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, that the 45th president is a fascist who praised Adolf Hitler’s generals for their loyalty.

“She was very strong — as she has been — on abortion rights, because she feels passionately about it. She can be clinical on some of these economic issues,” Axelrod said. “She was great on the long-term care for the elderly, to help people.”

Still, the strategist took issue with some of the vice president’s responses.

“The thing that would concern me is when she doesn’t want to answer a question, her habit is to kind of go to word salad city, and she did that on a couple of answers,” he told the panel.

“One was on Israel. Anderson asked a direct question: ‘Would you be stronger on Israel than Trump?’ And there was a seven-minute answer, but none of it related to the question he was asking,” Axelrod added.

Harris largely relied on her typical talking points from past interviews and speeches when it came the Israel-Hamas war, immigration, the economy and other issues. She called for an end to the war in Gaza and for security for both Palestinians and Israelis — points she has made before.

Axelrod said Harris did not address any of the concerns about the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

“That’s a mistake. Sometimes you have to concede things, and she didn’t concede much,” he said, adding that the vice president could have done a better job relating and interacting with the voters in the crowd.

He also argued that the Harris campaign’s fundamental goal with less than two weeks to Election Day should be driving home one message Harris delivered at the town hall: Trump will have an enemies list, but she will have a to-do list.

“What are their respective motivations, and who’s going to actually work on the stuff that is going to impact positively on your life?” he said.