Kamala Harris' Campaign: What Went Wrong?

Last night, Americans elected Donald Trump as their 47th president. Unlike in 2016, Democrats don't have the popular vote/Electoral College split to fall back on. Trump won all seven battleground states, and Republicans took the Senate. This leaves Democrats hoping for an unlikely win in the House. Party leaders will spend months figuring out what went wrong. One thing is clear: voters were unhappy, and they blamed Vice President Kamala Harris. For two years, voters have been angry about the economy and immigration. Harris didn't offer a compelling plan for change. She also didn't defend her administration's policies well. Instead, she focused on democracy rhetoric that didn't resonate with undecided voters. These voters, again, leaned towards Trump. Trump's agenda offered a clean break from the Biden-Harris record, and voters chose that. Harris ran a disciplined campaign, but she had some wrong ideas about voters. She thought she could win over Republicans uncomfortable with Trump. But most of these people have already switched parties. Harris's campaign with Republican Liz Cheney might have even turned off young and low-propensity voters who wanted change.

Harris also didn't break from President Biden on key issues like Israel and Palestine. She sent others to appeal to Arab and Muslim voters, but they rejected her. She didn't acknowledge mistakes in early immigration decisions. This hurt her, just like when John McCain didn't disavow the Iraq War in 2008. The campaign was afraid to break with Biden, but it's unclear why. They could have tried to convince voters the economy is good. They could have bragged about the stock market and recovery from the pandemic. This worked for Trump. But it's not all Harris's fault. Voters were tired of Democrats. They blamed the party for the country's direction. It's not clear any candidate could have succeeded with these headwinds. Democrats have time to think about how to avoid this in the future.

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