Why Kamala Harris lost: A flawed candidate or doomed campaign?

Last Updated: November 7, 2024By Chief Editor

Nearly a month ago, Kamala Harris appeared on ABC’s The View in what was expected to be a friendly interview aimed at pitching herself to Americans who wanted to know more about her.

But the sit-down was quickly overshadowed by her response to a question on what she would have done differently from incumbent president, Joe Biden: “Not a thing comes to mind.”

Harris’s answer – which became a Republican attack ad on loop – underscored the political headwinds that her jumpstart campaign failed to overcome in her decisive loss to Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Publicly, she conceded the race late on Wednesday afternoon, telling supporters “do not despair”.

But soul-searching over where she went wrong and what else she could have done will likely take longer as Democrats begin finger-pointing and raising questions about the future of the party.

Harris campaign officials were silent in the early Wednesday hours while some aides expressed tearful shock over what they had expected to be a much closer race.

“Losing is unfathomably painful. It is hard,” Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in an email to staff on Wednesday. “This will take a long time to process.”

As the sitting vice-president, Harris was unable to untether herself from an unpopular president and convince voters that she could offer the change they were seeking amid widespread economic anxiety.

Biden’s baggage

After Biden dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate performance, Harris was anointed to the top of the ticket, bypassing the scrutiny of a primary without a single vote being cast.

She began her 100-day campaign promising a “new generation of leadership”, rallying women around abortion rights and vowing to win back working-class voters by focusing on economic issues including rising costs and housing affordability.

With just three months until election day, she generated a wave of initial momentum, which included a flurry of memes on social media, a star-studded endorsement list that included Taylor Swift and a record-setting donation windfall. But Harris couldn’t shake the anti-Biden sentiment that permeated much of the electorate.

The president’s approval rating has consistently hovered in the low 40s throughout his four years in office, while some two-thirds of voters say they believe the US is on the wrong track.