Why Kamala Harris Lost – According to her campaign staff

Interviewed by former top aides to Barack Obama on Pod Save America, key members of the Harris campaign gave their own views on why they lost

It was inevitable, and it was coming. An insider’s bitch fest about why the Libs lost the 2024 presidential election. And there was no better or more obvious place for that to happen than having key campaign staff for the failed Harris campaign show up on a podcast run by prominent campaign and White House staff from the Obama era.

As infuriating as it was, it was also illuminating, and for reasons far beyond the analysis (read excuses) proffered on the podcast.

The Campaign’s Analysis

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Quentin Fulks, Stephanie Cutter and David Plouffe, respectively the campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, head of communications, and senior advisor to the campaign, were in full blame game mode. Here is a summary of their reasons for why they failed.

1. Biden's Lingering Shadow: The campaign struggled to distance itself from President Joe Biden's unpopularity and economic record. While Harris tried to position herself as a candidate for change, she was hesitant to criticize Biden directly or distinguish her platform from his, which confused voters seeking a clear break from his presidency. And while O’Malley wanted to defend this, it is also a sign of how hidebound all of these people are. Yes, you should criticize a president who is very unpopular, no matter how much, in the Democratic echo chamber at least, the same people love to say that Biden did more for the working class than anyone except FDR. Or that he was the most “pro union” president of anyone’s memory. That is an astonishingly low bar to cross, particularly as Biden went along with the appalling labour policies of the Clinton Administration. And the many betrayals of the Obama one.

2. Campaign Timing and Structure: This is closely related to issue number 1, and could in fact, be a bullet point under it, precisely because of its causality. Namely, Harris had just over one hundred days to organize her campaign after Biden stepped aside. This condensed timeline exacerbated logistical challenges, from building state-level operations to effectively deploying surrogates. Poor organization was particularly evident in critical swing states like Pennsylvania, where local teams lacked strong relationships with key officials, hindering outreach to Black, Latino, and Jewish communities​. However inherent in all of this was the massive failure of an effective ground game operation that was one of the best funded in history. Money was not the object. Authenticity was. Or at least fake authenticity which knew how to whip up a culture war and spread masses of misinformation.

3. Ad Spending and Messaging: While Democratic PACs spent heavily on ads emphasizing Harris’s middle-class advocacy, Trump’s campaign countered with targeted attacks that resonated more with working class voters with no college degree (who outnumber the coastal college educated). These ads, combined with the perception that Harris was overly cautious in defining her policy priorities, left her campaign vulnerable​ to being defined for her. Trump also clearly utilized digital and non-traditional media a lot better and a lot more (which is shocking, considering how many Obama era people were floating around this discussion).

4. A Less Co-Ordinated, More Centralized Response Team

It was clear that the team felt that they were overwhelmed on a regular basis by what they claimed were coordinated attacks by the pro Trump Super PACS who moved into position.

5. Internal Frustrations: While Harris moved battleground state numbers in her Favor, operational shortcomings, and reliance on Biden-era strategies undermined efforts. Some even argued that Biden’s decision to stay in office as long as he did deprived Harris of the opportunity to establish herself earlier and more independently​. See issues number 1 and 2.

That is What They Said…But

The fact that none of this was new is a result of course, of the fact that these are all Washington insiders, no matter where they now reside, have been leaking like sieves to the insider political media that covers this kind of ballgame ever since the election.

And it is not that all of this was “wrong.” It is just very limited, and for obvious reasons. These are all children of the upper middle class (at minimum), who all went to expensive private schools, and were plucked from such real-world environments to go work on presidential campaigns for six figure salaries.

There are no blue-collar experiences among them. Certainly not professionally.

There was not, for example, a single discussion about why their “economic message” failed, and badly. They just knew that it did. And could not of course, blame someone in their own party for being so responsible for this. See Clinton and NAFTA. Not to mention Biden’s support of the same when he was still in the Senate. And the mishmash of economic policy in this administration.

There was also a palpable sense if not admission that the Democrats “lost the culture war.” No kidding. And not because Harris signed an ACLU questionnaire in 2019 that called for immigrant prisoner transgender care. However, that discussion was particularly salient in an environment where in fact, it was clear, for all the explaining and blaming, the Democrats not only lost, but missed the boat on a whole bunch of cultural issues that can best be described as male, macho, aggressive, and, let’s be honest, testosterone poisoned.

And that, by extension, Harris was appallingly misadvised by elites, including the ones on this show and those like them (like the host). Not to mention her sister Maya (the head of the ACLU in Northern California, the largest chapter in the nation). And her brother-in-law. And a host of other people who advised her to run as a “normal” candidate.

Long story short, the entire episode felt like a couch session from over privileged, overpaid, myopic people who say they are “progressive” and wanted to drop lots of metrics in the face of the most important one (they lost.)

If anyone at that table has ever had to work at McDonald’s or any crap job for more than a summer, I would be surprised. Or not been outrageously paid for their entire careers.

No wonder they have such problems connecting with people who live paycheck to paycheck, who never went to college, and have absolutely no idea why they are suffering. They just know that they are. And do not appreciate being told that they really are not.

Which all of the people at that table absolutely missed.

What Else Was Missing

The fact of the matter was that this was just a bunch of people who got paid a huge amount of money and failed, inexcusably. There was an awful lot of hubris despite that.

Instead of complaining about what they normally get and what the normal schedule of a normal campaign should be, there was not a real sense of being able to shake it up. Instead of admitting that they were far from agile, or experienced in bringing in anyone who might help with this kind of expedited campaign (see ANY European politician or anyone with that kind of optic if not experience), they all wanted to blame the fact that they had a short season and lost two weeks to the hurricane. And went on the wrong media. And failed to explain difficult concepts to voters who needed the explanation (clearly). Like what exactly was an “opportunity economy” besides some cheap gimmicky political ideas that were obviously slapped together.

A tax break is not what people need or want right now. They want steady jobs, for which they are paid enough to live, buy a house, go on vacation and send their kids to college or at least launch them in life. In short, more opportunity, and less of a feeling of being on the edge of a financial cliff all the time.

But beyond the specific economics messaging that was absolutely MIA, there was nobody, for example, who could explain why Harris missed the opportunity to deflate the gender if not gender dysphoria discussion with a reminder that the Republicans are adept at this kind of thing, from Swift boating, to Dukakis in a tank, to gay marriage and gays if not women in the military. These are all cultural war distractions, yet for my lifetime, they have repeatedly caught the Democrats if not the “left,” flat footed.

Why these folks did not cotton, and early, that they had to do something to stem Arabic and Muslim defections in key states (in part by signalling a different outcome to the disaster in the Middle East), is beyond my understanding. That came through in the nominating convention, in spades.

But these are not things that consultants and campaign managers earning six figures do. They do what the boss and the DNC tells them to do. Even more so in a campaign that was literally launched after Biden inexcusably flubbed the first debate (and failed to drop out after the first term before that).

The idea that incumbents did badly in every western election this year was mentioned a lot. Like this is an excuse. It is not. And further undermines, broadly, what has gone wrong with the supposed “Left,” or “Progressives,” or whatever you want to call the now rather hodge podge alliance of people who are decidedly anti Trump.

Whatever else they are has yet to be identified, if not championed. Something that the Harris campaign, of course, failed at. No matter how much they felt that voters might have switched to Harris if they had a bit more time.

Nope. It is very doubtful she would have won a primary challenge if Biden had stepped down in time. And for the very reasons that she and the Democrats, lost the presidency this time.

What Needs to Happen Next

No matter the Monday morning quarterbacking and “pearl clutching” right now, one thing is abundantly clear. The Democrats lost, and lost to a man who has no problem lying to a nation that desperately wants to hear it. The fact that Trump and his team are far more adept at technologically driven social media is worrisome enough, without the defection of Elon Musk.

Musk himself was also not discussed within the context of what went really wrong for Harris. Starting with the fact that nobody dismissed him as a hypocritical suck up who is all for getting government money for himself while starving everyone else (from his competitors to people who legitimately deserve government assistance). And someone who apparently stood in line for hours to shake Obama’s hand only to flip sides (if not flip out) in his current incarnation as “First Buddy.”

The fact that the campaign was being advised by Obama alumni, and that so many of them were men who benefited from the first real “bro bounce” this century (and trashed a lot of women along with Hillary Clinton), also went largely by the wayside.

And while there is clearly no joy in Mudville right now (read Democratic Party), there is also something that hopefully will get through some very thick heads.

The Democrats did in fact help cause this mess. The very first Trump tariffs are being levied against NAFTA partners. That will go unnoticed by nobody (although of course was also not mentioned during this podcast of insiders who love to pretend they are smarter and a lot more on top of things than anyone else).

After all, to these people, sure it was a professional drubbing. But they will all go on to other campaigns (as they even admitted) and get paid six figures for trying to figure out why the Democrats lost this time.

Try living on the edge of homelessness for a while. Or struggling to be seen and get a job in a world where everyone wants to ignore you and abuse you. That is my experience in the United States, even with a college degree from a good school (the so-called “Public Ivy.”) No breaks, no money. No house. No pension. No help at all. No opportunities. Just abuse.

It brings a lot of big ticket, traditional Democratic issues back into the frame quickly.

Even ones which can and should be so simple that they can be effectively communicated, and in spades, by a campaign which had the budget, and should have known better. And whose joyless message, no matter how much Harris grinned, clapped and cheered, predictably if appallingly and with zero excuses to be made, failed at the finish line, if only by a whisker. See the Trump dance, for starters. Not to mention the appalling level of political correctness that nobody did anything to correct.

Tragically, as much as Americans generally do not deserve what is coming next, even if they voted for Trump, one thing is very clear. The Democrats deserved to lose this time. And need to wake up. Starting with not going fishing in the same fishbowl, every single time. Or listening to those who do.