WASHINGTON -- Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to outmaneuver former President Donald Trump and address old vulnerabilities on her policy positions as she starts to fill in how she would govern if elected in November.

Vice presidents seldom have distinct policy areas — and almost always suppress any opinions that diverge from the President's. Now, after four years of aligning with President Joe Biden's agenda, Harris is taking a measured approach to presenting her own policy stance.

However, her unexpected rise to the top of the ticket following Biden's withdrawal from the reelection race also means her policy platform is being assembled at a similarly rapid pace.

Upon assuming leadership of Biden's political campaign in late July, Harris oversaw the removal of the campaign website's six-point "issues" page, which had outlined key campaign goals against Trump, such as enhancing voting rights and restoring nationwide abortion access. In contrast, Harris has incorporated broad objectives into her speeches, frequently emphasizing personal biographical details of herself and her running mate. She has advocated for federal legislation to guarantee abortion access and ban assault-style firearms, but has provided limited specifics regarding the content of these laws or how she would garner congressional support for these politically charged issues.

When questioned by journalists on Saturday about when she would release her policy program, Harris pledged to provide more specifics this week, stating, “It will concentrate on the economy and the measures we must take to reduce expenses and also bolster the economy as a whole.”

The first significant insight into her thought process emerged this past weekend, with a proposal stemming not from the policy fringes of the Biden administration or the editing stages of the legislative process but from her opponent: Trump.

Harris declared that, similar to Trump, she aims to eliminate federal taxes on tips earned by workers — with the added condition that her proposal would only apply to individuals in the lower and middle income brackets. This idea has gained support from both political parties in recent months and is especially significant in Nevada, a state heavily reliant on the service industry.

It is also a key concept embraced by Trump in his 2024 bid to regain the presidency — a benefit in the eyes of the Harris campaign, which has sought to provoke the Republican into making mistakes.

The Republican was not pleased by Harris endorsing the idea, complaining on his social media platform that “This was a TRUMP idea - She has no original ideas, she can only borrow from me.”

Trump further discussed the issue in an interview with Elon Musk on Monday night, faulting Harris for adopting his idea after what he alleged was pressure from the Biden administration on tipped workers.

The White House stated on Monday that President Biden also supported the plan, although press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to explain why neither Biden nor Vice President Harris advocated for it during their initial three-and-a-half years in office.

“This is definitely a new concept,” she stated, but later countered Trump’s criticism by asking, “Why wasn’t this enacted during the previous administration?”

In her initial weeks as a contender, Harris' most notable policy shifts have been to distance herself from liberal positions she embraced during her unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, including proposals to prohibit hydraulic fracturing, establish universal healthcare and decriminalize unauthorized border crossings. Harris withdrew from that intense race before any votes were cast but acknowledges that voters could now hold her accountable for those stances if not swiftly addressed.

Harris faces another challenge due to her connection with Biden, who swiftly supported her and gave her control of his political strategy following his withdrawal from the race.

"They've been working together seamlessly for the past three and a half years," Jean-Pierre stated. "They've been completely aligned in their approach. And I assume this will continue moving forward."

It was not until the final, frantic phase of his campaign, after his disastrous June 27 debate against Trump, that Biden began to lay out specific policy proposals for a second term. He advocated for restoring access to abortion, raising the federal minimum wage, and enacting a new surtax on billionaires. Harris has wholeheartedly embraced all these priorities, including the incumbent's call for reforms to the Supreme Court.

However, all those initiatives necessitate congressional approval, a hurdle that remained insurmountable even when Democrats commanded a unified majority in Washington during the initial two years of the Biden-Harris administration.

Harris’s campaign, on the other hand, implied that her efforts to adopt more moderate positions indicate how she would strive to foster agreement in government.

“While Donald Trump firmly adheres to the radical proposals outlined in his Project 2025 plan, Vice President Harris believes authentic leadership entails uniting diverse perspectives to foster consensus,” stated Harris spokesperson Kevin Munoz. “This very approach enabled the Biden-Harris administration to achieve bipartisan breakthroughs in areas ranging from infrastructure to gun violence prevention. As President, she will employ the same practical methodology, prioritizing common-sense solutions to advance progress.”

Although Trump has recently focused on personal and racially charged criticisms of his new opponent, his campaign has been actively emphasizing Harris' policy proposals. Their goal is to portray Harris as a radical liberal by highlighting past video footage of her discussing her policy stances during the 2020 Democratic primaries.

“Vice President Harris has changed her stance on nearly every policy she has advocated for and followed throughout her career, from immigration to economic issues, and the mainstream media is overlooking it,” Trump wrote on Sunday. “She sounds more like Trump than Trump, adopting nearly all of his positions. She is deceiving the American people, and will quickly revert back to her previous views. I will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! There will be no more changes!!!”

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This report was supplemented by Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Darlene Superville.