In the closing weeks of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run last year, her campaign solicited guidance on how to win over the moderate and persuadable Republican voters she would need to defeat Donald Trump. 

One of the chief ways she could do that, according to a memo from political strategist Maria Comella, would be to tout her support for Israel — and make clear she disagreed with people in the Democratic Party who compared Israel to Hamas.

“It is wrong to draw moral equivalency between a terrorist organization in Hamas and the State of Israel. No terrorist organization should be celebrated. Our support for Israel and her right to self defense should not be questioned,” Comella, a close advisor to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, and a onetime chief of staff to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, wrote in one of four memos she sent to the Harris campaign in the fall. 

The memos were published by Politico and reported in a new book about the 2024 race by the political journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf. The authors wrote that Comella did not feel her ideas were taken seriously. (Comella did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.) 

The messaging on Israel was part of a broader pitch by Comella for Harris to gain legitimacy with moderate swing voters by demonstrating a willingness to “call out your own party when it matters.” 

She could also do this, Comella argued, by drawing a contrast with the far left about the importance of America’s role in the world.

“Trump wants us to act like just any other country with no special role in the world while too many on the far left don’t want to acknowledge the fundamental goodness of our country and its people,” wrote Comella, who also advised Harris to make clear that Democrats who use hateful language to describe Trump voters are not being helpful.

In another memo, Comella described a “persuasion campaign that needs to be waged” to win over anti-Trump Republicans, anti-incumbent independents and Republicans who are “soft or still skeptical” of Trump. She advised Harris to draw a greater distinction between herself and former President Joe Biden.

By Jacob Kornbluh & JI Staff

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