essay topics for a tale of two cities

A Tale of Two Cities

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 1, Chapters 1-3

Book 1, Chapters 4-6

Book 2, Chapters 1-3

Book 2, Chapters 4-6

Book 2, Chapters 7-9

Book 2, Chapters 10-13

Book 2, Chapters 14-16

Book 2, Chapters 17-20

Book 2, Chapters 21-24

Book 3, Chapters 1-5

Book 3, Chapters 6-9

Book 3, Chapters 10-12

Book 3, Chapters 13-15

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Discuss the significance of the title in terms of its themes, style , etc.

Sydney Carton is a lawyer, and several scenes in the novel take place in courtrooms. What role does the law or justice play in the novel, and how does it interact with the maticideas about redemption?

Several characters in A Tale of Two Cities seem to function largely as comic relief—Miss Pross, Jerry Cruncher , etc. Choose one of these humorous characters and explain how they contribute to the novel’s broader meaning.

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• A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens

• Literature Notes
• Essay Questions
• A Tale of Two Cities at a Glance
• Book Summary
• About A Tale of Two Cities
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Book 1: Chapter 1
• Book 1: Chapter 2
• Book 1: Chapter 3
• Book 1: Chapter 4
• Book 1: Chapter 5
• Book 1: Chapter 6
• Book 2: Chapter 1
• Book 2: Chapter 2
• Book 2: Chapter 3
• Book 2: Chapter 4
• Book 2: Chapter 5
• Book 2: Chapter 6
• Book 2: Chapter 7
• Book 2: Chapter 8
• Book 2: Chapter 9
• Book 2: Chapter 10
• Book 2: Chapter 11
• Book 2: Chapter 12
• Book 2: Chapter 13
• Book 2: Chapter 14
• Book 2: Chapter 15
• Book 2: Chapter 16
• Book 2: Chapter 17
• Book 2: Chapter 18
• Book 2: Chapter 19
• Book 2: Chapter 20
• Book 2: Chapter 21
• Book 2: Chapter 22
• Book 2: Chapter 23
• Book 2: Chapter 24
• Book 3: Chapter 1
• Book 3: Chapter 2
• Book 3: Chapter 3
• Book 3: Chapter 4
• Book 3: Chapter 5
• Book 3: Chapter 6
• Book 3: Chapter 7
• Book 3: Chapter 8
• Book 3: Chapter 9
• Book 3: Chapter 10
• Book 3: Chapter 11
• Book 3: Chapter 12
• Book 3: Chapter 13
• Book 3: Chapter 14
• Book 3: Chapter 15
• Character Analysis
• Doctor Alexandre Manette
• Lucie Manette, later Darnay
• Charles Darnay
• Sydney Carton
• Therese Defarge
• Ernest Defarge
• Jerry Cruncher
• Character Map
• Charles Dickens Biography
• Critical Essays
• Women as the Central Characters
• The French Revolution
• Famous Quotes
• Film Versions
• Full Glossary
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Study Help Essay Questions

1. Explain the first paragraph of the novel. What does Dickens mean by "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"?

2. Discuss the resurrection theme in A Tale of Two Cities . Which characters are "recalled to life"? How?

3. Describe how Dickens depicts crowds and mobs throughout the novel. What does Dickens seem to be saying about large groups of people?

4. A major criticism of A Tale of Two Cities is that Dickens does not fully develop his characters. Do you agree with this assessment? Explain why or why not.

5. Discuss the use of light and shadow imagery throughout the novel.

6. Dickens represents women as being "natural"or "unnatural"in A Tale of Two Cities . What characteristics does he idealize in women? What characteristics does he view as abnormal? Do you agree or disagree with his perspective? Why?

7. Dickens is known for his humor, but A Tale of Two Cities is noticeably somber. Do any comic passages and characters exist in the novel? If so, what are they? Why are they humorous?

8. Discuss Dickens' views of the French Revolution. Does he believe it was inevitable or preventable? What are his attitudes toward the French royalty and aristocrats? Toward the peasants and revolutionaries?

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Essays on A Tale of Two Cities

Prompt examples for "a tale of two cities" essays, the theme of resurrection.

Explore the theme of resurrection in "A Tale of Two Cities." How does the concept of resurrection manifest in various characters and situations throughout the novel, and what is its significance?

Character Analysis: Sydney Carton

Analyze the character of Sydney Carton. How does his transformation and ultimate sacrifice contribute to the themes and message of the novel?

The Contrasting Cities of London and Paris

Compare and contrast the cities of London and Paris as depicted in the novel. How do these settings represent different aspects of society and revolution?

The Role of Fate and Coincidence

Discuss the role of fate and coincidence in the lives of the characters. How do chance encounters and twists of fate drive the plot and shape the characters' destinies?

Social Injustice and Class Struggles

Examine the themes of social injustice and class struggles in "A Tale of Two Cities." How do these issues lead to the French Revolution, and what commentary does Dickens offer on society?

The Sacrifice of Darnay and Carton

Discuss the theme of sacrifice in the novel, focusing on the sacrifices made by Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. What motivates their sacrifices, and what do they achieve?

The Influence of History and Politics

Analyze the historical and political context of the novel. How do real historical events, such as the French Revolution, impact the story and its characters?

The Role of Women in "A Tale of Two Cities"

Examine the portrayal and significance of female characters in the novel, such as Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge. How do they contribute to the themes and conflicts of the story?

Violence and Revenge

Discuss the themes of violence and revenge in the novel. How do these themes drive the actions of characters and influence the outcome of the story?

Dickens's Commentary on Humanity

Explore Charles Dickens's commentary on the nature of humanity and the possibility of redemption as presented in "A Tale of Two Cities."

The Symbolism of Monseigneur in a Tale of Two Cities

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Fate in a Tale of Two Cities

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Exploring The Sacrificial Theme in a Tale of Two Cities

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The Theme of Violence in a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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Charles Dickens

Historical Novel

• Book the First (November 1775): Jerry Cruncher, Jarvis Lorry, Lucie Manette, Monsieur Defarge, Madame Defarge, Jacques One, Two, and Three, Dr Alexandre Manette
• Book the Second (Five years later): Mrs Cruncher, Young Jerry Cruncher, Charles Darnay, John Barsad, Roger Cly, Mr Stryver, Sydney Carton, Miss Pross, "Monseigneur", Marquis St. Evrémonde, Gaspard, The Mender of Roads, Théophile Gabelle
• Book the Third (Autumn 1792): The Vengeance, The Seamstress

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A Tale of Two Cities Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

1) Discuss how Mr. Lorry grows as a character from the beginning of the novel to the end.

2) How do his attitudes change toward Tellson's Bank?

3) How does his attitude about his lifestyle change?

4) What are the differences in his attitude toward the meaning of life differ from the beginning to the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

1) Evaluate the relationship between Lucie and her father, Doctor Manette.

2) How does the doctor's past affect their relationship with one another?

3) What does Doctor Manette wish for Lucie's future?

4) How does Lucie feel about her father at the end of the novel?

5) Give examples from the story of how they interact with one another.

Essay Topic 3

1) Summarize how Charles Dickens uses local color and imagery to describe London and Paris.

2) Cite descriptive examples of the atmosphere, landscaping, the citizens, the wine shop, the prisons, and Tellson's Bank.

3) Does the...

(read more Essay Topics)

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A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

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A Tale of Two Cities Essays

Resurrection jessica williamson, a tale of two cities.

The theme of resurrection ("rebirth," saving or redeeming in one's soul, renewed interest in and zest for life, salvation from death, harm, or "nothingness," etc.) is predominant throughout this novel. Identify two characters whose lives...

In the Absence of Hate Helen Huggins

Geoffrey Chaucer once wrote, "Trouthe is the hyeste thing that a man may kepe" (The Canterbury Tales ëThe Knight's Tale'). Since before the ancient Greeks, mankind has striven to discern and define truth, a noble if somewhat arduous task. Even...

Light vs. Dark Throughout A Tale of Two Cities Betsy Tucker

The chaotic and churning society of the eighteenth century is well-depicted in Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities. As France goes through its intense revolution, England remains in its peaceful state. Dickens compares the two countries and their...

Violence in A Tale of Two Cities Anonymous

The storming of the Bastille, the death carts with their doomed human cargo, the swift drop of the guillotine blade - this is the French Revolution that Charles Dickens vividly captures in his famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities. With dramatic...

Mirror Images: Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay Wenjia Chen

In his masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens strengthens his theme of paired opposites by juxtaposing the characters of Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. Initially, it seems as though Carton and Darnay are completely bipolar. While...

Recalled to Life Anonymous

In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens asserts his belief in the constant possibility of resurrection and transformation, both on a personal level and on a societal level. The narrative suggests that Sydney Carton's death secures a new, peaceful life...

Resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities Elizabeth Marcil 11th Grade

Resurrection is a term that is often used to describe the rebirth of someone, not only after death, but often as a new person in their own lifetime. In A Tale of Two Cities, a novel written by the famous English author Charles Dickens, the idea...

Death as a Liberation in A Tale of Two Cities Anonymous 11th Grade

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is his first of two historical novels. Published in 1859, the book discusses the themes of resurrection, destiny, and concealment. Dickens’ novel both demonstrates his view of society, and contains historical...

A Tale of Two Cities: Opportunity in the Face of Failure Joshua Arispe 12th Grade

When a man’s road to happiness is cut off by a wrong turn and a person finds themselves lost in an unknown state, a second chance is a miraculous hand that comes out at the person, opening up another path, even at his lowest of stages, to once...

Not-So-Great Expectations Anonymous College

As simplistic and politically impartial as Victorian novels and their common familial themes of love and companionship may seem, there is customarily a greater sociopolitical concern inserted within the narrative for the reader of the time to have...

Synthesis Essay on the Theme of Sacrifice Vy Nguyen 12th Grade

In Western literature, sacrifice is often regarded as a noble act because it invokes the powerful image of Christ's death. Many writers throughout history have used this familiar association to reprimand the prevalence of selfishness in the human...

Wine Symbolism in A Tale of Two Cities Anonymous 11th Grade

Tumbling out of the cart, clashing into the dark grey stone, the cask explodes over the pavement, its contents seeping into the jagged cracks of the street. Perplexed by the event, the people watch intently before hastily running towards the...

Pollution of Power in A Tale of Two Cities Lucy Yang 10th Grade

From even the beginning of civilization, social hierarchy molded the formation and development of society. Whether it be the power of a single monarch or that of a democratic board of officials, authority always induces change in both the lives of...

Recurring Purposes Within Dickens' Novels Anonymous 12th Grade

Charles Dickens was a famous critic of his time. He took on Victorian ideals and issues that he viewed as social injustices and criticized them, both in public speeches and in his writing. In his novels, these were primarily subjects like poverty...

From Dreariness to Chaos: The Significant Role of Imagery in "A Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens 10th Grade

Imagination is a key requirement when reading in order to interpret or “experience” significant settings and scenes that reflect specific moods throughout the story. An author’s use of adjectives through various senses helps the reader to do so....

La Guillotine: Dickens' Philosophical Use of Figurative Language Emily Miller 10th Grade

Lasting from 1789 to 1799, the French Revolution is characterized by the uprisal of the lower class and the bloodshed associated with it. It is now recognized as the most violent, inhumane revolution in European history, and with it came new ideas...

Lucie Manette's Suitors Rachel Lynch 10th Grade

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities artfully weaves the story of the Manette family through the background of the French Revolution. Though, as readers know, uprising and overthrow in France is imminent, M. Manette and his daughter Lucie deal...

Madame Defarge Personifies Fate Anonymous College

Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control that is determined by a supernatural power. In literature, fate works mysteriously to bring about the rise and fall of characters, love, death, and conflict. This idea is a universal...

A Tale of Two Cities

Background of the novel, historical context, literary context, a tale of two cities summary, a tale of two cities characters analysis, sydney carton, madame defarge, charles darnay (a.k.a. charles evrémonde), lucie manette, dr. alexandre manette, monsieur defarge, jarvis lorry, jerry cruncher, marquis evrémonde, mr. stryver, john barsad or roger cly, themes in a tale of two cities, resurrection and transformation, the inevitability of sacrifice, the propensity to fierceness and tyranny in revolutionaries, oppression and revolution, secrecy and surveillance, fate and history, a tale of two cities analysis, golden thread and knitting, footsteps and shoes, the marquis, imprisonment, setting of the novel, point of view, more from charles dickens.

“The Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens Essay

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The story ‘The Tale of two Cities’ written by Charles Dickens is considered to be dedicated to the disclosure of French Revolution period; it is the classic work representing the archetypal characters through the concepts of good and evil interaction, physical and moral courage. The paper will be concentrated on the analysis of the story central heroes, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, Lucie Mannette and Madame Defarge, combining the elements of violence and horror with the romanticism and realism style portrayed by Dickens.

Charles Darnay is depicted by Dickens as a French aristocrat, living in England through his inability to accept the injustice and cruelty of French social system. The character is the embodiment of moral values and greatest virtues by his rejection of uncle Marquis Evremonde’s snobbism. Darnay, who is presented as the protagonist of the story, is the expression of nobility and morality. Moving to London, he marries Lucie Manette and they have a little daughter Lucie.

‘He had loved Lucie Manette from the hour of his danger. He had never heard a sound so sweet and deer as the sound of her compassionate voice; he had never seen a face so tenderly beautiful, as hers when it was confronted with his own on the edge of the grave that had been dug for him.’ (Dickens 131)

The events surrounding the character are filled with envy, evilness and hatred; nevertheless, the power of love and deep moral values make the character remain just and faithful. Dickens depicts Darnay as a flat character; despite this fact, he undergoes only minor changes in the flow of the novel. It is interesting to note that the story beginning shows Darnay as a noble character with aristocratic behavior and fleeing to England.

But gradually then character is turned into a loving husband and devoted father, who is a generous and kind son-in-law and a considerate friend at the same time. His attempts to help the servant can be characterized as naïve and noble gesture making him returning to France at the period of revolution oppression. Being imprisoned and helpless, Darnay has no opportunities to help anyone and himself either. Only the character’s faithfulness and devotion, as well as honors and appreciation, expressed in the world perception and attitude to close people and society saved him through actions of Carton and Dr. Manette. (Chisick, 2000)

Sydney Carton is presented as an unrecognized lawyer and heavy drinker; physically the character resembles Darnay, nevertheless, he is quite different. Carton is shown as worthless human being having no high social position and loving family to who he can devote his life. The loneliness was the only friend of his accompanying the character’s thoughts and actions.

‘I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.’ (Dickens, 99)

Nevertheless, it is necessary to stress that Carton never harmed anybody and even strived to provide some help he could. He helped in Darnay’s prosecution for treason allowing his colleague Stryver (a friend, who lacks ambitions and gets success due to Carton’s efforts) to reveal him. Carton’s assistance to people positioned the character as a positive personage; despite Carton’s slight hatred to Darnay through their mutual love with Lucie, he wished to become a friend of his, which characterizes carton as a kind-hearted person.

It is necessary to stress that Dickens managed to demonstrate Carton’s gradual changes in his attitude and position in the world; the novel events underline the idea that carton has got the real sense of life being ready to help others and even sacrifice his life. The depiction of Sydney Carton contributed to the central theme of the novel, underlining the symbolism of moral and physical courage. The readers gave an opportunity to see how people can sacrifice all they have for the only love of their love. Carton’s love for Lucie appeared to be the embodiment of happiness and greatest virtue. (Sims, 2009)

‘Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you’ (Dickens, 184)

The fact that Carton gave his life for Darnay, Lucie’s husband, depicted him as a noble, generous, warm-hearted person who believed in the power of love and came to the self conclusion that his life sense was Lucie’s happiness, the only person he lived for. (Stout, 2007)

Lucie Manette seems to be an angel in the world of evilness and hatred; blue eyes and golden hair made the image of this character marvelous attracting attention of all men. Lucie, who is physically and spiritually beautiful, is considered to be ‘lesser developed’ character in the story possessing the best qualities and virtues. The readers have an opportunity to judge Lucie analyzing her actions and attitude to surrounding people, rather than words. She is the inspiration of loyalty and love; her character managed to connect the lives of Darnay, her husband, and Carton, who gave his life for his love to her, in the power of love.

‘I think, Charles, poor Mr. Carton deserves more consideration and respect than you expressed for him to-night… I fear he is not to be reclaimed; there is scarcely a hope that anything in his character or fortunes is reparable now… remember how strong we are in our happiness, and how weak he is in his misery?’ (Dickens 207)

The flatness of Lucie character does not push her to indifferent position in the story; she is an important figure who indirectly symbolizes unconditional compassion and love. It is necessary to stress that dickens uses this character to underline the power of love and spiritual wealth in the atmosphere of hatred and violence. Her rare dialogues in the novel do not make her actions transparent to the readers; the author managed to depict successfully the symbol of kindness and justice, which is also transferred to Lucia’ and Darnay’s daughter.

The character of Madame Defarge is considered to be unrelievedly horrible; she is illustrated as cruel revolutionary combining the features of aristocracy hatred with evilness expressed to everyone interacting with her interests.

‘Madame Defarge was a stout woman…, with a watchful eye that seldom seemed to look at anything, a large hand heavily ringed, a steady face, strong features, and great composure of manner.’ (Dickens 35)

It is necessary to stress that throughout the novel Madame Defarge is busy with making a list of those, who are to die for revolution. The character is depicted as blood-thirsty with the unbounded lust for vengeance. Dickens underlined the fact that Madame Defarge and her family used to suffer cruel oppression, influencing her worldview and attitude to the society.

‘…imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress.’ (Dickens, 369)

It is necessary to stress that the flow of story events shows Madame Defarge as less than human, characterized by the features of Greek tragedy moral world. The early life experience resulted in the woman moral oppression and internal evilness expressed to people.

The author lets the readers to understand how people, who suffered deprivation and old regime oppression from the very childhood, change their perception of the surrounding environment and react violently to the opportunities they get. Reading ‘The Tale of Two Cities’ provides a clear connection between the people making the Revolution and those, who suffered its conditions. It is necessary to stress that Dickens success fully illustrated a memorable, powerful and chilling character through Madame Defarge depiction, who was concerned about the Revolution flow in England. (Patterson, 2009)

The analysis of four different lives in the story ‘The Tale of two Cities’ written by Charles Dickens gave an opportunity to the reader evaluate the features of the characters living in the same era. The characteristics presented above demonstrate the idea that Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton can be perceived as the dynamic characters, while Lucie Manette and Mrs. Defarge as static ones. Such a position underlines the fact that the author strived to depict female characters for the novel events and mood background, symbolizing the contrast of evil and good, hatred and justice. Dickens managed to centralize these characters even through their rare communicative roles and dialogues, making special stress on dynamism of Darnay and Carton in the play.

The novel ‘The Tale of two Cities’ appeared to be a valuable contribution to the world literature. This masterpiece is generally recognized on the international level, through the author’s successful description of the most important virtues of humanity.

The description of four different lives in one epoch, living under the pressure of old regime and French revolution, disclosed the way in which people can change through weak willed nature and lack of resistance to internal interference. Despite the focus on evil and cruelty promotion, Dickens brightly illustrated the victory of good and justice. The author managed to underline the importance of love, showing how his characters were ready to sacrifice everything they had for human virtues and this great feeling.

Works Cited

Chisick, Harvey “Dickens’ Portrayal of the People in A Tale of Two Cities.” European Legacy 5.5 (2000): 645. MasterFILE Premier . EBSCO. Web.

Dickens, Ch. “A Tale of Two Cities: Easyread Edition”. ReadHowYouWant. 584p. 2009.

Patterson, Frank M. “Dickens’s A tale of Two Cities” Explicator 47.4 (1989): 30. MasterFILE Premier . EBSCO. Web.

Stout, Daniel “Nothing Personal: The Decapitation of Character in A Tale of Two Cities.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction 41.1 (2007): 29. MasterFILE Premier . EBSCO. Web.

Sims, Jennifer S. “Dickens’s A TALE OF TWO CITIES.” Explicator 63.4 (2005): 219. MasterFILE Premier . EBSCO. Web.

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Designer Melissa Rufty's Low Country Pied-à-Terre Is a Tale of Two Cities

Blending New Orleans’ penchant for “more is more” and Charleston’s refined restraint, designer Melissa Rufty drafts a new chapter for a historic Holy City home.

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“When I walked in, I felt like I was on a movie set. I can’t explain it any other way than that,” Rufty recalls. “I felt like I really had been transported to Charleston.”

And yet inside, glimpses of another famed Southern port city glimmer in the patina of antique mirrors and family heirlooms. “Elizabeth,” as the home is known (or “Lizzie,” for those lucky enough to meet her during a party), is Rufty’s home away from home. When she’s not in New Orleans, she can often be found out on Elizabeth’s piazza in Charleston. Inside, a carefully curated color palette and a collection of well-traveled antiques tell the tale of Rufty’s two home cities.

“There’s a little bit of an irreverence in there, in the color choices and a mix of furniture that you don’t typically see in historical Charleston homes,” she explains. Noting Charleston’s bent toward schemes that lean “more austere,” Rufty contrasts that with New Orleans’ affinity for funk: “I think in New Orleans, we tend to go more is more,” she says. “Layer it, layer it, layer it.”

But Rufty approached with respectful restraint, careful to preserve Elizabeth’s spirit by getting to know her slowly over time, adding and subtracting as it felt right and letting the open architecture guide a design that flows naturally from room to room: “I decided I wasn’t going to over-design this place. It doesn’t need it. I fell in love with it very raw, so I wanted to make sure I kept it that way,” Rufty explains.

This translates to a cautious approach to color (“I didn’t want it to feel trendy, but I didn’t want it to feel overly historical either,” she says) and thoughtful editing when it came to fabrics and furnishings.

“When it started to look too coordinated, I backed off, and when it started to look too formal, I added a little sense of humor,” she says. “…It was a lot of editing, which is hard to do when it’s your place and everything has a memory—I’m very sentimental.”

Drawing on much of what she already had, the interiors tell a story about Rufty’s own history as much as they do the cities from which they came. Her mother collected antiques, many of which make an appearance, like the secretary and the chairs in the living room or the mirror in the bathroom. Mixed with centuries-old architecture, each storyline mingles with Elizabeth’s own history to create a new tale. One that, just like the design, is always changing.

“Elizabeth’s seen a lot, and we’re just passing through here,” Rufty reflects. “She was here for a long time before I was born and is still going to be here when I’m gone. For now, I’m just a steward.”

Rufty calls the piazza the “pièce de résistance,” noting its generous size, even for Charleston. Outfitted in wicker ( Sika Design ) and wrought iron furnishings ( Chairish ), the 450-square-foot space accommodates dining and lounging.

A screen door leads straight into the kitchen. “It’s my favorite part,” Rufty says. “When you pass through that door, the way it just goes ‘ whack! ’…I just feel like I’m in the South. It’s a great sound.”

Living Room

Rufty collects sweetgrass baskets (on left, below the bar), a historic Low Country art form. “That was one of my mother’s. I remember, growing up, she would get them when we would go to Charleston. So I started a collection and got some books to educate myself on them. They’re literally art pieces,” Rufty says. Gold pillow, Claremont

A pair of sleeper sofas ( Avery Boardman ) in the living space double as crash pads for Rufty’s three daughters. “That was our way to have a big sleepover if we’re all in there at the same time,” she says. Pillows, B. Viz Design , Fortuny , and Pierre Frey

“I really love portraits. I feel like they keep watch over things when I’m not there,” Rufty says. 18 th Century Portrait, 17 South Antiques . Early 19 th century Northern Italian console table, Uptowner Antiques

“There’s no formal dining room. That’s out of necessity, but I really have always wanted an eat-in kitchen. It's casual and intimate,” Rufty says. “It has almost a European feel.” Antique mirror, Dunn and Sonnier . 19 th century farm table, St. Romain Interiors

The two-tone kitchen is a case study in Rufty’s restraint, having left it “pretty much the same” after acquiring the home from fellow local designer Alecia Stevens .

With no formal powder room, the home’s sole bathroom must fulfill form and function. A sage hieroglyphic-inspired pattern covering the walls and cloaking the shelves (wallpaper and curtain fabric, Lewis & Wood ) give the space Rufty’s desired jewel box effect.

A mahogany canopy bed adds appropriate grandeur to a bedroom visible from the living room. Pillow, B. Viz Design . Textile for top bed coverlet, Keivan Woven Arts

“I am known for using color, but I always try to make sure the colors I use are saturated and not saccharine,” Rufty explains, noting the drama of the chaise is muted by a complex magenta hue. “It’s rich and has depth to it.” Antique gilt mirror, Uptowner Antiques . Stone tassel table, 17 South Antiques

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Election Updates: Harris and Walz Tour Pennsylvania Ahead of Convention

Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, embarked on a bus tour of the critical battleground state a day before Democrats open their national convention in Chicago.

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Simon J. Levien Michael Gold and Jazmine Ulloa

Here’s the latest on the presidential race.

On the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, rallied volunteers during a bus tour in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state that could decide November’s election. Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz, along with their spouses, greeted supporters in Pittsburgh before a stop in Rochester, where Ms. Harris thanked volunteers for their efforts.

Both campaigns are focusing intently on Pennsylvania. Former President Donald J. Trump — who won the state by a slim margin in 2016 but lost it to President Biden in 2020 — visited Wilkes-Barre on Saturday , attacking Democratic policies as “fascist” and calling illegal immigrants “savage monsters.” Mr. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, will also be in Pennsylvania on Monday, making separate campaign stops in York and Philadelphia.

Here’s what else to know:

Democratic convention: Delegates and party leaders will begin to fete Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz as the Democratic Party’s nominees on Monday, when the convention’s first day will include a speech by Mr. Biden . The party on Sunday announced the themes for each of the convention’s four nights .

Republican messaging: Mr. Vance suggested in an interview on Fox News that he didn’t believe the recent polls showing Ms. Harris ahead or newly competitive in swing states, and said putting her in charge of inflation policy would be like “giving Jeffrey Epstein control over human trafficking policy.” Two prominent Republicans, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, expressed frustration with the campaign’s focus on personal attacks on Ms. Harris. “Every day we’re not talking about her policy choices as vice president and what she would do as president is a good day for her and a bad day for us,” Mr. Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Walz goes home: Mr. Walz represented the Democratic ticket at a rally in his native Nebraska on Saturday, playing up his roots as the Harris campaign courts rural, working-class and moderate voters. Although solidly Republican, Nebraska is one of two states (along with Maine) that award an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. The state’s Second District, which encompasses Omaha and is known as Nebraska’s blue dot, is a swing region that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and Mr. Biden in 2020.

More helicopter fallout: Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, threatened to sue Mr. Trump if the former president continued to say falsely that they once nearly died together in a helicopter ride. Mr. Trump has not spoken about the helicopter incident since Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilman who, like Mr. Brown, is Black, said he took a rocky helicopter ride with Mr. Trump in 1990 and speculated that the former president might have confused the two men. Mr. Brown said he wanted to make sure that Mr. Trump stayed quiet.

Swing states back in play: Four diverse swing states that seemed to be drifting toward Mr. Trump when Mr. Biden was in the race are now in play for Democrats, according to polling from The New York Times and Siena College . In Arizona, Ms. Harris has established a four-percentage-point lead on Mr. Trump, the surveys found, while she leads by two points in North Carolina; Mr. Trump has a one-point lead in Nevada and a four-point lead in Georgia.

Nicholas Nehamas

Reporting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Democrats unveil their convention platform, with familiar themes.

Democrats released their party platform on Sunday, unveiling a document that offers plenty of political comfort food for a newly energized party ahead of its convention in Chicago.

As a sign of what Democrats believe will mobilize their forces — and the head-spinning transformation that has remade their presidential ticket — the document mentions former President Donald J. Trump’s name 150 times.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the new nominee who has brought her party back together after a bruising internal fight over President Biden’s candidacy, is mentioned by name just 32 times.

The platform seems intended to avoid stirring any controversy that could derail that fresh feeling of unity.

At the top of the list of issues that could threaten the party’s cohesiveness is the war in Gaza. Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters are descending on Chicago, and roughly 30 delegates representing the Democratic primary voters who opposed Mr. Biden, mostly in protest over Gaza, will attend the convention, which begins on Monday.

The platform repeats a traditional Democratic message supporting Israel, condemning the brutal Oct. 7 assault by Hamas and backing “an immediate and lasting cease-fire deal” that will return hostages still being held by the terrorist group and address “the displacement and death of so many innocent people in Gaza.”

Democrats will vote to approve the platform on Monday evening. It was passed by the party’s platform committee, a group of party insiders, with wider input from “community leaders from coalitions across the Democratic Party,” according to the Democratic National Committee.

On other issues, the platform represents a predictable collection of Democratic policy priorities, including calls to make investments in infrastructure and manufacturing; to cut taxes on working families while making big corporations and the wealthy “finally pay their fair share”; and to fight climate change.

Another section addresses efforts to lower costs on everyday items like food, housing and health care, in similar terms to the economic agenda that Ms. Harris rolled out last week . And there are also calls to protect abortion rights, restore democratic norms and combat gun violence.

On the other side, Mr. Trump took a direct hand this summer in reshaping — and shrinking the size — of the Republican platform, which focuses more on his own priorities than on a traditional laundry list of policies.

The Democratic platform says that Mr. Trump’s vision for the country is one of “revenge and retribution,” a reflection of the party’s attempt to make the 2024 election a referendum on the former president.

And demonstrating the dramatically changed circumstances of the race since Ms. Harris took over the ticket, the party’s former presumptive nominee, Mr. Biden, is mentioned by name 287 times.

The platform also contains 19 references to his “second term.”

Lisa Lerer , Reid J. Epstein , Shane Goldmacher and Chris Cameron contributed reporting.

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Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Nicholas Nehamas

Rebecca Davis O’Brien reported from Pittsburgh, and Nicholas Nehamas reported from Washington.

Harris and Walz venture into less-friendly terrain to court Pennsylvania voters.

Before their convention this week that will signal the final sprint to November, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, headed out on a brief bus tour on Sunday to fire up voters in perhaps the most crucial battleground state in the 2024 election.

As they toured western Pennsylvania, their play for support beyond the state’s more liberal cities was apparent at the team’s first stop, a field office in Rochester, Pa., in the largely conservative Beaver County: Ms. Harris picked up a volunteer’s cellphone to speak with a resident from Erie, a northwestern city in one of the state’s swingiest counties, which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 but Joseph R. Biden Jr. won four years later.

“I love Erie,” Ms. Harris said. “At some point we’ll get to Erie.”

Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz were joined on the outing by their spouses, Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz, traveling in two new campaign buses from the Pittsburgh airport, where they arrived on Air Force Two to greet a small group of supporters.

The Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas are the two main drivers of Democratic support in Pennsylvania, a state whose 19 electoral votes could decide the presidency. Recent polling shows a neck-and-neck race there between Ms. Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, with some surveys showing Ms. Harris gaining a narrow edge recently.

Mr. Trump is also increasing his presence in Pennsylvania: On Saturday he held a rally in Wilkes-Barre and another is set in York on Monday, while Senator JD Vance of Ohio, his running mate, campaigns in Philadelphia.

Both candidates have used their trips in the state to make attacks.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters outside the Rochester campaign office on Sunday, Ms. Harris appeared to suggest that Mr. Trump was a “coward” — just a day after he had called her a “radical” and a “lunatic” in Wilkes-Barre.

“Over the last several years there’s been this kind of perversion that has taken place, I think, which is to suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down,” Ms. Harris said — though she did not name Mr. Trump. “Anybody who’s about beating down other people is a coward.”

President Biden often preferred to campaign in Philadelphia, by far the state’s largest metro area. The city is easily reached from Washington and close to his home state of Delaware, nestled in friendly territory surrounded by counties he carried in 2020 .

Outside Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh sits, western Pennsylvania is less hospitable to Democrats, and Ms. Harris’s visit there suggests she may branch out more than Mr. Biden did.

“God bless them, they need to,” Nancy Cannon, a retired teacher who showed up at the Pittsburgh airport, said of the campaign’s planned visits. She described a landscape of Trump supporters, where she knew of Democrats who were afraid to put out their own lawn signs. “Maybe they would feel more supported,” she said, if Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz showed up.

Ms. Cannon said Ms. Harris’s swift ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket had given a jolt of energy to her family and friends. “I love Joe. But I am happier to see a younger person. I feel like this is an Obama moment.”

The trip points to the Democratic hopes that Mr. Walz can help the party reach working-class voters outside the big cities. The suburbs and small towns surrounding Pittsburgh resemble areas in Minnesota where Mr. Walz has performed well in his previous races.

One campaign stop on Sunday was also a clear effort to tap into Mr. Walz’s personal history: a football practice at Aliquippa High School in a former steel town with many Black residents that has struggled economically for decades. Mr. Walz’s own experience as a high school football coach has been a touchstone of the campaign so far, with Ms. Harris occasionally referring to him as “Coach Walz.”

Mr. Walz told the team he “remembered every single call” from his team’s state football championship. He and Ms. Harris were joined at the event by Jerome Bettis, the Hall of Fame running back who won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mr. Bettis, nicknamed The Bus, was a surprise, if appropriately named, addition to the Harris-Walz motor coach tour, which also made short stops at a nearby firehouse, a Sheetz gas station and Primanti Bros., a beloved chain of sandwich shops founded in Pittsburgh.

“The way you win elections in Pennsylvania is literally going everywhere,” said Lt. Gov. Austin Davis of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who is from the Pittsburgh area. “Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, but all the small communities in between.”

Mr. Davis also said that Ms. Harris would find a welcome audience in the working-class region for the economic agenda she rolled out last week that focused on lowering the costs of everyday life and cutting taxes for working families.

Conor Lamb, a Democrat who once represented a congressional district outside Pittsburgh, said Mr. Biden had become well known to many Pennsylvania voters, thanks to his decades of service as a senator in neighboring Delaware, an advantage Ms. Harris does not possess.

Mr. Lamb said that the bus tour reflected the fact that Democrats had learned their lesson from Mrs. Clinton losing the state after focusing most of her campaign on the major cities.

“You can’t just do Philly and Pittsburgh and rely on social media,” Mr. Lamb said.

And he agreed that Ms. Harris’s economic plans would be popular in places like Rochester, a small town once known for its glassmaking factories that sits in his old district.

“Some of the things that she laid out in that speech — the child tax credit, extending health care subsidies — all that kind of stuff is just universal,” Mr. Lamb said. “That should do as well in Rochester as it does in the heart of the city of Pittsburgh. And I’ve felt in the past that Democrats were a little bit afraid to go on the offense in those areas.”

Vice President Kamala suggested that former President Donald J. Trump was a “coward” during a stop on her campaign bus tour through western Pennsylvania on Sunday. Without naming Trump, Harris said that some people believe “the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down,” a point of view she labeled a “perversion.” And she countered that “the real and true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. Anybody who’s about beating down other people is a coward.”

Ken Bensinger

Social media influencers will have guest spots, and choice seats, at the Democrats’ convention.

A speaking slot at a national party’s nominating convention is among the most coveted prizes in American politics, offering veteran officeholders and up-and-comers alike the chance to speak to — and be seen by — an entire nation.

At the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, five of those rare slots will go to a group that most likely would be unfamiliar to previous convention planners: social media influencers.

Convention officials said each night would include at least one influencer. The speakers are Deja Foxx, Nabela Noor, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Olivia Julianna and John Russell, a group of millennial and Gen Z influencers who, collectively, have well over 24 million social media followers.

They will speak on the same podium as President Biden; the Democratic nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota; and party luminaries, including two former presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, among others.

“This feels very affirming,” said Ms. Foxx, 24, a reproductive rights activist from Arizona who worked on Ms. Harris’s first presidential campaign. She’ll speak about abortion rights on Monday night in a program that will also feature Mr. Biden. “I don’t take it lightly that I’m speaking on the same night as the president of the United States,” she said.

These speakers represent a significant shift for the convention and underscore the Democratic Party’s efforts to speak to voters whose news diet exists outside traditional media. Last month, a conservative influencer, the actress and model Amber Rose, spoke on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

The speaker roster at conventions tends to mix elected officials with entertainment figures and regular citizens who can speak to particular policy issues. The Republicans’ convention last month featured a number of people the party called “Everyday Americans,” who discussed topics including immigration, inflation and crime.

A study by the Pew Research Center last year found that almost half of Americans get some of their news from social media and that a third of adults under 30 get their news from TikTok.

To help chase those potential voters, the D.N.C. has, for the first time, granted credentials to more than 200 influencers, offering them the kind of wide-ranging access to events and people traditionally provided only to the press. It’s also giving them a special “creator platform” within the convention venue in Chicago, the United Center: a special V.I.P. box directly above the arena floor.

Providing influencers time onstage gives them the chance to repost clips of their speeches to their own social media accounts as well as the feeds of other influencers watching the show, all in pursuit of the modern media era’s most valuable prize of all: virality.

“ Content creators are a vehicle to reach new audiences, not just through their content, but through their unique ability to speak authentically to their own communities,” said Emily Soong, a spokeswoman for the convention.

Ms. Foxx said she was first approached by organizers a few weeks ago and has since worked with a campaign speechwriter to hone her presentation. “I was pretty nervous but now I’m feeling really ready,” she said. “I’ve been running through my speech every day.”

The lineup on Tuesday night will include Ms. Noor, a Muslim American known for her makeup tutorials, cooking videos and frank talk about her challenging journey to motherhood. With more than 11 million followers spread across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, she will speak on a night whose theme, “A Bold Vision for America’s Future,” is meant to draw contrasts between the Harris-Walz ticket and their Republican rivals, Donald J. Trump and Senator JD Vance of Ohio.

For Wednesday’s program, Mr. Espina, the son of Latin American immigrants who has amassed a huge following on TikTok with his videos about news, politics, food and soccer, will talk about immigration. Although he normally posts in Spanish, he is expected to deliver his remarks in English.

That night will also include Ms. Julianna, who has called herself “a plus-size queer Latina from rural Southeast Texas” and gained a following from her involvement in Gen-Z for Change , a youth-oriented political activism group. Her top issues include climate change and, like Ms. Foxx, abortion access.

“Peer to peer organizing is one of the most powerful tools we have in our democracy,” said Ms. Julianna, whose speech topic will be “freedom.” For years I’ve spoken directly to my fellow young Americans through my social media pages, knocking doors for Democratic candidates, and rallying for fundamental freedoms across the country.”

During the convention’s final night, which organizers are describing, thematically, as a narrative about how the 2024 election is a fight “for our future,” Mr. Russell, a self-described “dirtbag journalist” will have a chance to speak.

Based in West Virginia, he worked on rural policy and engagement for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign in 2020, ran unsuccessfully for Congress, and has built a following on his progressive coverage of the industrial Midwest and his strong support of labor unions. In his social media bios, he describes himself as “biased for the working class.”

Maggie Astor

Spotted on the streets of downtown Chicago as Democrats gather for their convention: huge circular decals on the sidewalk, of the sort that marked six-foot distances early in the pandemic, with a QR code and big lettering that reads “Are You a Disappointed Dem?” The fine print says they’re paid for by American Values 2024, a super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign.

Jazmine Ulloa and Chris Cameron

Jazmine Ulloa reported from Washington, and Chris Cameron reported from Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky.

Vance defends his unsubstantiated claims about immigration and crime.

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, on Friday defended his past unsubstantiated claims about immigration in which he suggested that early waves of Italian, Irish and German immigration led to higher crime and interethnic conflict, by citing the movie “Gangs of New York.”

At a campaign event before the Milwaukee Police Association, Mr. Vance was asked about the comments — which have resurfaced in recent days — from a 2021 interview with the far-right podcaster Jack Murphy, and whether he would have prescribed the kind of mass deportations then that he and former President Donald J. Trump have made central to their platform now.

Mr. Vance mostly skirted the question on removals, but he stood by his comments on crime and ethnic and interethnic conflict, pointing to the Martin Scorsese film that depicts gang violence between Irish migrants and nativist Protestant Americans.

“Well, first of all, I also said there were a lot of benefits to that wave of immigration, but has anybody ever seen the movie ‘Gangs of New York’? That’s what I’m talking about,” he said. “We know that when you have these massive ethnic enclaves forming in our country, it can sometimes lead to higher crime rates.”

Later, he added: “What happens when you have massive amounts of illegal immigration? It actually starts to create ethnic conflict. It creates higher crime rates.”

Asked to provide evidence for the claims, a campaign spokeswoman pointed to a report from an anti-immigration think tank that argues crimes committed by immigrants are underestimated because many crimes go unreported, and to a rise in violence in Minnesota that the authorities have attributed to a rivalry between East African gangs in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Since the nation’s founding, nativist politicians and anti-immigrant activists have sought to conflate immigration with crime. But historians and criminologists say there are no empirical studies to support claims like those made by Mr. Vance. The studies that do exist have repeatedly concluded that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States. A 2023 study by researchers at Stanford, Princeton and other major institutions found that, since 1880, immigrants have not been more likely to be imprisoned than people born in the United States. And as immigration into the United States has increased, crime has decreased in recent years.

Tyler Anbinder, a historian who wrote the book “City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York,” and served as a historical adviser for the movie “Gangs of New York,” said immigrants in New York during the film’s time period and since have not committed crime disproportionate to their population numbers and have almost always been arrested at lower rates than natives.

“Immigrants are so happy to be in America,” Mr. Anbinder said, adding that one of the main reasons immigrants commit less crimes than natives is “because they don’t want to be deported.”

Alex R. Piquero, a criminology professor at University of Miami and a former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, said Mr. Vance was also wrong to raise concerns about “ethnic enclaves.” Immigrants — regardless of the time period or ethnic background — tend to cluster in neighborhoods where they have relatives, know others who can speak their native language and can feel secure in their new environment.

“What’s very peculiar about these statements is that those ethnic enclaves do not breed crime,” he said of Mr. Vance’s stance, adding that “they actually serve as a protective buffer from crime.”

In his remarks, Mr. Vance also argued for a return to early 20th-century thinking when he said the United States was “welcoming country to immigrants” but Americans realized that the nation “could only take so many people,” arguing that deportations would benefit the country.

“I think that will promote assimilation and a common American culture that’s in the best interest of everybody,” he said.

But in arguing that more immigrants lead to higher crime and ethnic conflict, historians said, Mr. Vance was echoing arguments that American nativists have used since at least the 19th century to classify and marginalize some demographic groups as racially inferior, genetically predisposed to crime and unable to be assimilated.

Those negative stereotypes and misconceptions — once centered on certain Europeans but more recently focused on Mexicans and Latino migrants — have fueled prejudice and led to more extreme treatment of immigrants by government officials, police, the courts and the press.

In “Gangs of New York,” the most ruthless killer is the nativist who disdains immigrants, Mr. Anbinder said. But Mr. Vance appears to associate the Irish immigrants in the movie with the violence, he added.

“Throughout American history, those who fear or hate immigrants have always wanted to speak of them and scapegoat them as bringing crime to America,” Mr. Anbinder said. “What Vance is doing is not much different now.”

Anushka Patil

Harris, Walz and their spouses gave brief remarks to campaign workers and joined phone banking efforts during a stop in Rochester, in Beaver County, on their way through western Pennsylvania. “Hopefully I’ll see you in Erie at some point,” Harris told one person on the phone. Gwen Walz told volunteers that she loved the state — “I think I might want to spend a lot of time here,” she quipped.

Rebecca Davis O’Brien

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota walked a line of supporters for several minutes here in Pittsburgh, shaking hands and taking selfies, then boarded one of the new campaign buses waiting for them without making remarks. This will be quite an unmistakable caravan through western Pennsylvania.

Air Force Two has pulled up to the hangar here in Pittsburgh, emerging from the low fog and the pouring rain that set in moments after the plane landed. The rain was brief, however, and the sun has returned.

A small crowd of supporters has gathered here at the Pittsburgh airport, where Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz will land, speak, and set off in two new campaign buses for an afternoon of small campaign stops around western Pennsylvania. Outside Pittsburgh and the rest of Allegheny County, this is Republican territory. But the trip suggests that Democrats feel they can pick up support here, particularly with Walz on the ticket.

Neil Vigdor

A campaign adviser for Cornel West, the long-shot independent presidential candidate, said that West’s team would be going to court to fight his disqualification from the ballot in Michigan, where state election officials said his nominating paperwork had several omissions. The adviser, Edwin DeJesus, said the oversights, flagged by a former Michigan Democratic Party chairman, were “trivial technicalities” raised in “a desperate move by the D.N.C. and their affiliates.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago told ABC News that city officials were ready for the convention and that he expected pro-Palestinian protests to remain peaceful. “This is a party that can handle protest and protecting the First Amendment right, which is fundamental to our democracy, while also strengthening our democracy and speaking to the future of our country,” he said.

Maya C. Miller

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Donald Trump’s campaign should focus far more on Kamala Harris’s policy choices — like backtracking on her opposition to fracking — rather than personal attacks about her race, gender and intelligence.

“I don’t look at Vice President Harris as a lunatic,” Graham said. “A nightmare for Harris is to defend her policy choices. Every day we’re not talking about her policy choices as vice president and what she would do as president is a good day for her and a bad day for us.”

Graham also walked back a previous criticism of the G.O.P. policy platform, which excluded a national abortion ban for the first time in 40 years. Instead of standing behind his assertion that Republicans would be “net losers” if they weakened their support for such a ban, Graham tried to downplay the role that abortion and reproductive rights — widely seen as winning issues for Democrats — would play in the election.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, said on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that she thought people were “reading too much into” Kamala Harris’s proposal to ban price gouging . “I think it speaks to Kamala Harris’s values, that she wants consumers to keep more money in their pockets,” she said, adding: “We know we have to have business growth in this country, small-business growth, big-business growth, for good-paying jobs. But we also know that you can’t gouge and hurt the American consumer just to pad your bottom line, and I think there’s a balance there.”

Whitmer said she would not “second-guess” Kamala Harris’s curt response to pro-Palestinian protesters at a recent rally in Detroit. Harris told the demonstrators: “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” Convention organizers are preparing for mass demonstrations this week in Chicago.

“I can tell you this: Kamala Harris cares about every person,” Whitmer said. “You can both want peace in the region and a cessation of violence, and the return of hostages. We are a country that continually falls into these false choices. You can do both, and I think that’s why we need a leader like her.”

JD Vance, who has been leaning into the claim that Harris has controlled the Biden administration from the start, told Shannon Bream on Fox News: “The most absurd thing that Kamala says at her rallies is, ‘On Day 1, I’m going to tackle the food and housing affordability crisis in this country.’ Shannon, Day 1 for Kamala Harris was three and a half years ago.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, said on ABC’s “This Week” that she was “comfortable” with adding $1.7 trillion to the federal deficit through Vice President Harris’s new economic proposal, because Congress could close the budget gap by letting Donald Trump’s 2017 tax breaks expire. “What we need to do is get rid of Trump tax cuts for the wealthy,” Duckworth said. “We need to go after the wealthiest of Americans who don’t pay their fair share.” Harris has promised to provide up to $25,000 for first-time home buyers, cancel student debt, extend the child tax credit and cut taxes on service workers’ tips.

Michelle Obama, the former first lady, will deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, according to a statement from its organizers. The statement did not specify on what night she would speak. Former President Barack Obama is also expected to give remarks.

Fox News asked Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a co-chair of the Harris campaign, whether Kamala Harris’s proposal to ban price gouging was “communist in nature.” He responded: “Presidents of both parties have tried to use the power of the F.T.C. to rein in high prices at the pump, high prices at grocery stores. I think picking this one proposal of the many she’s put out misses the broader point, which is that Vice President Harris is continuing the work of President Biden in reducing costs faced by working Americans.”

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, suggested on Fox News that he didn’t believe the recent polls showing Kamala Harris ahead or newly competitive in swing states because polls overestimated support for Democrats in 2016 and 2020. (He didn’t mention the 2022 midterms, when the opposite was true .)

Vance said on Fox News: “Giving Kamala Harris control over inflation policy, it’s like giving Jeffrey Epstein control over human trafficking policy. The American people are much smarter than that. They don’t buy the idea that Kamala Harris represents a fresh start. She is more of the same.”

Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has criticized Trump but is now supporting him , expressed frustration that Trump was attacking Harris’s intelligence instead of her economic proposals. “Almost any other Republican candidate would be winning this race by 10 points,” he said on CNN. “If you stick to the issues, if you stick to what matters, this should be an easy race for Donald Trump. It really should.”

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said on CNN's “State of the Union” that he believed Vice President Kamala Harris had “energized the party in a way that I haven’t seen certainly since ’08.” He added: “I’ve been to every convention since I was able to vote, and I can say I’ve not felt this kind of energy and electricity at any convention other than the one for Barack Obama.”

Pritzker said he wasn’t worried about a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, where ideological divisions split the party and the police attacked protesters. He said the party had “coalesced” around its candidate in a way it hadn’t in 1968, and he said of pro-Palestinian protesters: “If there are troublemakers, they’re going to get arrested and they’re going to get convicted. But the fact is that the vast majority of people who are protesting, and we’ve seen this before, are peaceful protesters. They want to have their voices heard. They’re going to be heard, no doubt about it, and we’re going to protect them.”

Here are the themes for the Democratic convention.

Democrats will raise the curtain on their national convention on Monday in Chicago, punctuating weeks of extraordinary volatility in the presidential race that included a reset at the top of the party’s ticket.

Vice President Kamala Harris clinched the party’s nomination this month in a virtual roll call held after President Biden had withdrawn from the race. She then selected Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate.

On Sunday, the party revealed the themes for each of the four nights of the convention:

Monday : “For the People” — President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, are scheduled to speak on the opening night of the convention, one that party officials said would focus on the record of the Biden-Harris administration and the president’s decades of public service. Organizers said the program would lean into a narrative that Mr. Biden has put the American people’s interest ahead of his own. On July 21, he became the first sitting president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 not to seek a second term.

Tuesday: “A Bold Vision for America’s Future” — Democrats will seek to draw a contrast between what they said was the party’s optimism and the drumbeat from Republicans who say that the country’s best days are behind it. They will also try to make former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, take ownership of Project 2025, a right-wing playbook for reshaping the federal government that the Republican ticket has sought to distance itself from.

Wednesday: “A Fight for Our Freedoms” — Mr. Walz will formally accept the Democratic nomination for vice president on the penultimate night of the convention, when the party will argue that Mr. Trump, if elected, would continue to strip away fundamental rights.

Thursday : “For Our Future” — Ms. Harris will accept the party’s nomination, becoming the second woman, and the first woman of color, to lead the Democratic ticket, and Democrats will seek to cast Mr. Trump as a danger to the nation whose second term would be even more extreme than his first.

An earlier version of this article misstated the day that President Biden dropped out of the race. It was July 21, not July 23.

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Simon J. Levien and Michael Gold

Simon J. Levien reported from Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Michael Gold reported from New York.

Urged to focus on the economy, Trump leans into attacks on Harris.

Former President Donald J. Trump in a campaign speech on Saturday bounced among complaints about the economy and immigration, wide-ranging digressions and a number of personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, including jabs at her appearance and her laugh.

At a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mr. Trump swung from talking points on inflation and criticisms of Democratic policy as “fascist” and “Marxist” to calling illegal immigrants “savage monsters” and saying that rising sea levels would create more beachfront property.

Mr. Trump blamed Ms. Harris for high prices, in what was effectively an inversion of her remarks at her rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, where she said Mr. Trump’s proposed import tariffs would amount to a “Trump tax” on groceries. The former president argued that she had placed a “Kamala Harris inflation tax” on average Americans over the course of her term as vice president and that, if elected, he would lower prices on consumer goods, just as she has said she would do.

“Yesterday, she got up, she started ranting and raving,” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Harris’s explanation of her economic agenda in North Carolina. He mocked her remarks that, he said, suggested he would tax “every single thing that was ever invented.”

Mr. Trump’s advisers have urged him to emphasize his economic policy plans, which, according to polling, many voters trust more than Ms. Harris’s , and some Republicans have hoped he would leave behind his characteristic personal attacks, including his frequent insults of Ms. Harris’s intelligence and appearance.

But at two events earlier this week — a speech in Asheville, N.C., and a news conference in Bedminster, N.J. — both billed as opportunities to discuss the economy, Mr. Trump veered into personal attacks against Ms. Harris, which he said he was “entitled” to do .

Mr. Trump opened his rally in Pennsylvania, his final one before the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago on Monday, by addressing inflation and the economy. But he quickly said, “You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you?” adding of Ms. Harris, “Joe Biden hates her.”

He went on to attack Ms. Harris for having a “crazy” laugh and said that he was “much better looking than her,” a line that drew cheers from the thousands of rallygoers gathered in the Mohegan Sun Arena.

In a statement, a Harris campaign spokesman, Joseph Costello, said that Mr. Trump was trying to distract from his “dangerous” agenda by resorting “to lies, name-calling and confused rants.”

Mr. Trump also said that Democrats would be hosting a “rigged convention” next week because of Ms. Harris’s entry into the race after a primary season in which millions of voters cast their votes for President Biden. Mr. Biden dropped out of the race in July and endorsed the vice president, who moved quickly to unite delegates behind her.

Mr. Trump repeated his campaign promise to increase oil and gas production, and then attacked Ms. Harris for calling for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, during her 2020 presidential campaign.

Ms. Harris’s campaign has said that she no longer supports such a ban. Pennsylvania, a large producer of natural gas, could see an economic benefit from increased fracking even as the process risks air and water pollution. And Mr. Trump’s calls to “drill, baby, drill” were particularly salient in Wilkes-Barre, in a region of northeast Pennsylvania that was historically defined by anthracite coal mining.

Mr. Trump also continued his effort to try to peel off American Jews, a substantial majority of whom are liberal, from the Democratic Party. He claimed that Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, was not chosen as Ms. Harris’s running mate because of his religion.

“They turned him down because he’s Jewish,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I don’t think he’s a good person.”

As Ms. Harris was choosing her running mate, Mr. Shapiro faced a pressure campaign from activists who considered him too sympathetic to Israel. Mr. Shapiro has rejected the idea that his religious identity played into Ms. Harris’s decision.

Still, Mr. Trump, who during his presidency was accused of emboldening white supremacists, invoked the Holocaust as he warned of broad antisemitism in America and insisted, as he has before, that Jews who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined.”

Both Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris are particularly focused on Pennsylvania, a swing state with the potential to decide the election. Mr. Trump won the state by a slim margin in 2016, but he lost it to Mr. Biden in 2020.

Both campaigns are holding events in the state in the coming days. On Sunday, Ms. Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, will embark on a bus tour of western Pennsylvania. On Monday, Mr. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, will make separate campaign stops in York, Pa., and Philadelphia.

Heather Knight and Shawn Hubler

Reporting from San Francisco and Sacramento

Willie Brown to Donald Trump: Mention my name again and get sued.

Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, had a message for former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday afternoon: Keep my name out of your mouth or get sued.

He stood with his longtime lawyer, Joe Cotchett, on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco, outside John’s Grill, the Saturday spot on Mr. Brown’s lunchtime rotation, and told reporters that he would sue Mr. Trump for slander and defamation if he repeated his concocted helicopter story one more time.

“He’s never brought a lawsuit in his life,” Mr. Cotchett said of Mr. Brown. “But you know who’s pushing him to it? A guy by the name of Trump.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Brown have been verbally sparring since Mr. Trump falsely claimed at a news conference on Aug. 8 at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that he had once nearly died in a helicopter ride with Mr. Brown .

Mr. Trump also said that Mr. Brown, who dated Vice President Kamala Harris in 1994 and 1995, said “terrible things” about Ms. Harris just before they almost plummeted to their deaths.

“He was not a fan of hers very much, at that point,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Brown promptly called the tale a lie — saying he had never ridden in a helicopter with Mr. Trump and had never told him disparaging things about Ms. Harris. In fact, he repeatedly told reporters that he respected her and desperately hoped that she would beat the man with whom he had never ridden in a helicopter.

Mr. Trump repeated his claims on his social media site, Truth Social, and threatened to sue The New York Times for reporting that the helicopter story was made up. “Now Willie Brown doesn’t remember?” Trump wrote.

That’s when Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator, said he had taken a rocky helicopter ride with Mr. Trump in 1990 and speculated that the former president might have confused him with Mr. Brown. Both California politicians are Black.

Mr. Trump has not spoken about the helicopter incident since Mr. Holden came forward. But Mr. Brown and Mr. Cotchett said they wanted to make sure that he stayed quiet.

Asked whether he wanted an apology from Mr. Trump, Mr. Brown said he would rather not hear from him at all.

“No, I don’t want his apology,” Mr. Brown said. “I don’t want him to mention my name.”

When asked to comment, a spokesman for Mr. Trump pointed to the former president’s threat to sue The Times but did not address what Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Holden on Saturday applauded Mr. Brown’s legal threat.

“If he’s propagating a lie, he should be held accountable,” Mr. Holden said of Mr. Trump in a telephone interview on Saturday from his home in Los Angeles. “I’m 95 years old, and Willie is 90, and he made the assumption we wouldn’t be here anymore, and nobody would challenge it. Well, we’re alive and well.”

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

Jazmine Ulloa

Reporting from La Vista, Neb.

Tim Walz plays up his Nebraska roots at a rally near Omaha.

Cinnamon rolls and chili. The Yale of the Midwest. A runza.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, back home in Nebraska on Saturday, delivered his usual appeals to joy and freedom, along with some jabs at former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. But this time, he added a flex of his Nebraska roots and his knowledge of the state’s culture.

Mr. Walz spoke of growing up in the tiny village of Butte, graduating from Chadron State College — “the Yale of the Midwest,” he said to laughs — and serving in the state’s Army National Guard, in which he enlisted at 17. He was introduced by one of his former high school students in the state and had former Butte classmates in the audience.

“We have a slogan here — Nebraska, it is not for everyone,” he told a boisterous audience at a theater in La Vista, Neb., a suburb of Omaha. “Well, it certainly ain’t for Donald Trump, I’ll tell you that much.”

The stop in his home state offered Mr. Walz another chance to reach rural, working-class and moderate voters, as he and Vice President Kamala Harris cast themselves as fighters for the middle class.

Nebraska is one of two states (along with Maine) that award an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. A presidential candidate can lose the state and still earn electoral votes there.

Nebraska is solidly Republican, but its Second District, which encompasses Omaha and is known as Nebraska’s blue dot, is a swing region that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020. Mr. Biden won it with 56.4 percent of the vote .

In the spring, Nebraska Republicans, under pressure from Mr. Trump; the state’s governor, Jim Pillen; and conservative activists, renewed an effort to move to a “winner-take-all” system in presidential elections. State legislators overwhelmingly voted against the proposal.

“It is not just symbolic,” Pete Festersen, the president of the Omaha City Council, said of Mr. Walz’s stop in the state. “It shows they can compete through the Midwest and certainly for our electoral vote and that can make a difference this election.”

Mr. Vance is expected at a fund-raiser in Omaha this month.

In a statement, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, criticized Mr. Walz’s platform and record, saying that Mr. Walz and Ms. Harris had “nothing to offer the American people other than their radical, Communist ideas.”

Mr. Walz was born in West Point , a rural town of roughly 3,500 people northwest of Omaha, and spent much of his younger days in Butte and Valentine, Neb. His mother was a community activist and his father a public school administrator, and he became a high school teacher and coach in Nebraska after a year of teaching in China. He met his wife, Gwen, also a teacher, at the Nebraska school, and the two moved to her native Minnesota in 1996.

Onstage, Mr. Walz joked that Mr. Vance would probably call a runza — a bread pocket filled with beef, cabbage or sauerkraut, and a regional specialty — “a Hot Pocket.” He said his parents and the communities he grew up in taught him to “show generosity towards your neighbor,” to “work for the common good” and that chili and cinnamon rolls — a sweet and spicy favorite in Nebraska — is a good combination.

He pledged that a Harris administration would cut taxes — and “not for the billionaires” — lower the cost for rent and prescription drugs and work to give families relief from medical debt. He argued that it was the Harris-Walz campaign that embodied small-town values.

“As we are running on these values, let’s take them to the White House,” he said.