CNN

Kamala Harris’ joyful campaign will Tuesday be hit by the blunt force of reality — a debate with Donald Trump — the most menacing political foe of modern times.

The vice president transformed the 2024 election after President Joe Biden’s abject debate showing against Trump on CNN in June led him to end his reelection bid. She restored several swing states to the electoral battlefield and has had Democrats dreaming of a stunning turnabout in a race most thought they were well on the way to losing.

Yet her success in unifying her party, branding herself as a fresh voice of generational change and closing into a dead heat with Trump in polling has so far not cemented a reliable path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Indeed, if the election were on Tuesday, the ex-president, who has already defied an assassination attempt and scores of criminal charges, could still win.