CHRIS CRUCIAL: What Kamala Harris should say on Fox News

PLUS: A glimmer of hope for Senate Democrats?

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1. A ‘Sister Souljah’ moment

Vice President Kamala Harris will sit down with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday in Philadelphia, the first time she will be interviewed by the conservative network in her political career.

This interview will be very closely watched — as Harris has largely avoided doing interviews with less-than-friendly anchors since emerging as the Democratic nominee over the summer.

And, because the audience will be so large, it provides Harris the perfect opportunity to do what, strategically, she should have already done: Break in a public way from Joe Biden.

The math is pretty clear: Joe Biden is not popular. His policies are not popular. And people do not want a 2nd Biden term — if that is what Harris is offering.

Check out this data point from a new NBC News national poll that asked people whether the policies of the Trump and Biden administrations helped or hurt them and their families:

And then there’s this from that same poll:

And asked what concerns them more — Harris continuing the same approach as Biden or Trump continuing the same approach from his first term as president — 43% of voters say they are more concerned about Harris following in Biden’s path, compared with 41% who are more worried about Trump repeating the actions of his term.

The writing is on the wall. Harris likely loses unless she finds a high-profile way to say that she is not Joe Biden — and that she would lead the country in a different direction, on a specific policy (or several specific policies) if she is elected.

As I said above, an interview on Fox News is a GIANT platform, with lots of eyes on it. Which makes it the perfect place for Harris’ “Sister Souljah” moment.

And I have the perfect issue on which Harris can — and should — break with Biden: Immigration.

Immigration is Trump’s best issue — by far. And it’s the place where voters — especially undecided voters — think the Biden administration has failed the most. It’s also a place where, during the 2020 campaign, Harris staked out positions that are far to the left of where the general public now is. (Harris has largely walked away from those positions since becoming the Democratic nominee.)

What could she do? I like my friend Chuck Todd’s idea of pledging to make a Republican the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Like, what if Harris, in the interview, said she wants Sen. James Lankford, the conservative Republican who was behind the bipartisan immigration bill, to be her DHS Secretary?

Whether or not it actually happened, it would draw huge headlines — and send a message: Harris gets it on the border. Change is necessary. Big change.

Harris will absolutely have that opportunity in her interview with Baier. If his first question isn’t about the border, his second or third will be. She should seize the chance — and break with Biden. The sooner, the better.

2. A worrying memo for Senate Republicans

Republicans should win the Senate majority next month. But a leaked memo from the major GOP Senate super PAC has some worrying numbers for them.

Politico got its hands on the memo from the Senate Leadership Fund, which paints a less-rosy picture for Republicans than most of the publicly-available data.

While Republican Tim Sheehy is ahead of Sen. Jon Tester in Montana by 4 points, that’s virtually the only good news for the GOP in the polling data outlined in the memo.

A few other results:

• Sherrod Brown +6 in Ohio

• Ruben Gallego + 5 in Arizona

• Elissa Slotkin +8 in Michigan

• Angela Alsobrooks +7 in Maryland

• Jacky Rosen +7 in Nevada

• Ted Cruz +1 in Texas

Races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — both Democratic-held seats — are within 1 and 2 points, respectively.

Again, if Republicans only win Montana and West Virginia — and Democrats don’t pick up any GOP seats — there will be a Republican majority in 2025.

A Cruz loss — assuming that Montana and West Virginia are the only states where Democrats come up short — could keep the majority in Democratic hands if Kamala Harris win the White House.

3. Tim Scott makes his move

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott didn’t win the Republican presidential nomination. And he got passed over in the veepstakes in favor of his Senate colleague JD Vance.

But Scott is far from done in national politics, with sources telling Punchbowl News on Monday that he is likely to enter the race to become the next head of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm.

Scott’s interest in the race comes just days after Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, widely considered the leading candidate for the job, surprised the political world by removing himself from consideration.

“Senator Schmitt was extremely grateful for support from all corners of the conference but is not going to seek the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] chairmanship next Congress,” an aide told The Hill newspaper.

Alabama Sen. Katie Boyd Britt was also mentioned as a possible campaign chair but sources told The Hill she is not interested in the job.

If Scott does decide to run — and it seems likely he will — he may well have the field to himself. Which isn’t terribly surprising given that leading the campaign committee is always a tough job — lots of fundraising, lots of dealing with ambitious pols — but even more so in the 2026 election cycle.

Republicans will be defending 20 seats in that election as compared to 13 for Democrats. And several GOP incumbents could face serious Democratic challenges including Maine’s Susan Collins and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis. The only Democrat who will, for sure, be targeted by Republicans is Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“She wasn’t happy that the only bloody fingerprints on the knife were hers.” — A Democratic insider on Nancy Pelosi’s push to get Joe Biden out of the presidential race

ONE GOOD CHART

Just over 1 in 10 voters say that Republicans and Democrats can agree on basic facts in this Pew data. Ugh.

SONG OF THE DAY

Common free-style rapping over “Africa” by Toto. This is incredible.

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