Scott T Jackson for GA

According to Mark Cuban, Vice President Kamala Harris appeals to “grinders.”

“The people who put their lives on the line to make a dream come true,” he told me. “That want better for their families and [are] willing to work nonstop to get it.”

“They are driven by the ‘Power of Broke,’” he added, referencing the book of his TV co-star Daymond John about how desperation breeds innovation.

It’s an instructive snapshot of why the Harris campaign has leaned into having the mischievous billionaire as a spokesperson: Cuban has both investor know-how and celebrity status that adds some pizzazz to her pitch for an “Opportunity Economy,” targeted especially at would-be entrepreneurs.

He’s campaigning on the ground, not just on mass-communication platforms like TV and social media. Just this past week, Cuban held economic town halls in purple Nevada, and he said he converted people to Harris’ side. (“They have told me so,” he said.)

His alliance with Harris is striking, though, because he’s exactly the kind of spokesperson that Democrats have leaned away from in recent years. It is a common refrain in parts of the left wing of the party that every billionaire is a policy failure, and activists have worked hard to reduce the influence of corporate and Wall Street types.

Trending

Michelle Obama urges young voters to polls at Georgia rally in last days of presidential campaign

But at a time when President Joe Biden’s approval ratings on the economy are poor, while Harris’ is better but still lagging another celebrity billionaire in polling on economic matters, it’s hard not to think those principles come with a political downside. Put simply: for many Americans, business leaders are credible messengers on the economy.

There’s no one I’ve seen who’s as fluid in publicly defending Harris’ economic agenda as Cuban is. And much of his rhetoric hits differently coming from him than it would from someone who’s spent their career in government. After all, when he talks about how markets and businesses might react to a given policy, he’s often speaking from a place of experience.

I was recently struck by his confident, accessible defense of her proposal to raise the tax on companies who buy back their own firm’s stock.

“Think about where the cash structure is in a company,” he said on CNBC last month. “If you have something to invest in [research and development], you do it. If you have a company to buy, or people to hire, you do it. If you can’t find a better way to invest your capital, you buy back shares. So it’s really saying, ‘OK, let’s tax the buybacks and that’ll create a ton of revenue to reduce the deficit.’”

Of course, Harris’ relationship with Cuban itself is also a revealing dynamic in her campaign, providing concrete evidence that she’s willing, as she says, to listen and engage with business leaders.

It’s not gone unnoticed.

Cuban, a self-identified political independent, is a living embodiment of fears from the left about Harris — that she will be more centrist and more corporate-friendly than Biden.

And though he communicates daily with her campaign, he’s not always on message — suggesting Harris should not reappoint Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan (a position he’s since softened) or criticizing a proposal to tax the ultrarich on wealth they’ve amassed from assets that have increased in value but haven’t been sold for cash yet.

Last week, he offered a different type of critique: “Harris is just not a good salesperson,” he told ABC News. It’s plain he sees himself as part of the solution.

Meanwhile, it’s an open question what kind of role Cuban would play if she is ultimately elected. Though he sometimes says he’s just “trolling,” he’s floated the notion of running the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency that went after him for insider trading more than a decade ago (he ultimately beat those charges). In past years, he’s toyed with running for political office himself.

He might simply continue to offer his opinion from a more influential perch (something he’s never been shy about doing; the longtime Dallas Mavericks owner has repeatedly been fined by the NBA for criticizing the league’s officiating).

One progressive political operative said his role in the campaign is a clear sign that the country is living in the era of billionaires, where outsize personalities like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump dominate headlines and amass steadily more power.

“I think Cuban is a reflection of the age, which is that Washington is becoming more and more of a sandbox for billionaires,” one progressive political operative told me. “This cycle it’s Musk and crypto. Who’s it going to be in the next election?”

Still, it’s easy to see why Cuban is an asset Democrats would have difficulty turning down. In addition to his corporate background, he is a fixture in the stands at Mavs games and famous as a venture capitalist on the TV show “Shark Tank.” The campaign clearly recognizes that young men are a key part of his fan base, and that’s a demographic they need help appealing to.

He endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Cuban was a novelty on the campaign trail that year but no more than a minor participant. His involvement for Harris is different.

Cuban’s celebrity billionaire status also plays a role in the psychological warfare part of the campaign.

“I have no doubt that Mark Cuban probably gets under the skin of Donald Trump in a way that most other surrogates wouldn’t,” said Brian Brokaw, a communications consultant and an informal adviser to the campaign.

Cuban is leaning into that.

In an ongoing email exchange over the past month, I asked Cuban how he would define his relationship with Trump. In typical rich-guy fashion, he pivoted to golf.

“He still doesn’t realize my [clubhead] speed is better than his, and I can outdrive him,” he replied.