Reuters:
Kamala Harris made a historic dash for the White House. Here’s why she fell short
Vice President Kamala Harris gestures from the stage during her rally on the National Mall one week before Election Day. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Much of her loss stemmed from a campaign that struggled to overcome deep-seated economic concerns and connect with blue collar voters. Inside her 4-month sprint to become America’s first woman president.
Much of her loss stemmed from a campaign that struggled to overcome deep-seated economic concerns and connect with blue collar voters. Inside her 4-month sprint to become America’s first woman president.
November 7, 2024
1:14 AM GMT+11, Updated 26 min ago
In a meeting with one of America’s most powerful unions in September at its Washington headquarters, Vice President Kamala Harris said she’d protect union jobs and workers’ livelihoods better than Donald Trump.
But leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, long staunchly allied with her Democratic Party, appeared unconvinced. When Harris argued that her Republican rival was no champion of the working class, the union bosses grilled her, questioning whether she and President Joe Biden had done enough for union workers, according to a Teamster leader who recounted the Sept. 16 meeting to Reuters. Within days, the union publicly embarrassed Harris by declining to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1996.
In a meeting with one of America’s most powerful unions in September at its Washington headquarters, Vice President Kamala Harris said she’d protect union jobs and workers’ livelihoods better than Donald Trump.
But leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, long staunchly allied with her Democratic Party, appeared unconvinced. When Harris argued that her Republican rival was no champion of the working class, the union bosses grilled her, questioning whether she and President Joe Biden had done enough for union workers, according to a Teamster leader who recounted the Sept. 16 meeting to Reuters. Within days, the union publicly embarrassed Harris by declining to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1996.
In the wake of Harris' loss of the 2024 presidential election, her tense exchange with union leaders underscores a critical failure of her campaign: connecting with working-class voters anxious about the economy and high prices.
Following Biden’s dramatic withdrawal just months before Election Day, Harris threw her campaign together as if it were an airplane being built while in flight, her advisers told reporters. The 60-year-old former prosecutor and U.S. senator pressed a case that Trump was a threat to democracy and women’s rights, while promoting a populist economic platform and reproductive freedoms.
Following Biden’s dramatic withdrawal just months before Election Day, Harris threw her campaign together as if it were an airplane being built while in flight, her advisers told reporters. The 60-year-old former prosecutor and U.S. senator pressed a case that Trump was a threat to democracy and women’s rights, while promoting a populist economic platform and reproductive freedoms.
Her entrance upended a race that her party had looked set to lose. She made history as the first woman of color at the top of a major party ticket. She triggered a surge in enthusiasm, broke fundraising records – raising $1 billion in less than three months – and drew endorsements from celebrities ranging from pop star Taylor Swift to actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Harris’ campaign ultimately failed to overcome deep-seated voter concerns about inflation and immigration – twin issues that opinion polls showed favored Trump. Her loss underscores a profound shift in American politics over the past decade as blue-collar voters have turned increasingly Republican – a trend Trump appears to have accelerated.
But Harris’ campaign ultimately failed to overcome deep-seated voter concerns about inflation and immigration – twin issues that opinion polls showed favored Trump. Her loss underscores a profound shift in American politics over the past decade as blue-collar voters have turned increasingly Republican – a trend Trump appears to have accelerated.
Harris also struggled to counter another Trump-era trend: a torrent of misinformation unprecedented in modern U.S. elections. An avalanche of misrepresentations and falsehoods about her record was spread by the former president and amplified on right-wing websites and media, including conspiracy theories on issues ranging from migrant crime to voter fraud.
When asked by Reuters during the race about misinformation amplified by Trump, his campaign officials typically either repeated the falsehoods or did not respond to requests for comment.
When asked by Reuters during the race about misinformation amplified by Trump, his campaign officials typically either repeated the falsehoods or did not respond to requests for comment.
By late Wednesday, Trump had won 294 electoral votes to Harris’ 223, with several states yet to be counted. In her concession speech, she told supporters, many of them in tears, not to give up even in their disappointment. "Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn't mean we won't win," she said.
This account of how Harris lost is based on Reuters interviews with Harris campaign staffers, White House officials, Democratic Party advisors and close allies.
It was always going to be a heavy lift. The U.S. has only elected one president – Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 – who wasn’t a white man. As the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, Harris had risen higher in the country’s leadership than any other woman.
President Joe Biden and Harris walk to deliver remarks on gun violence at the White House in September. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
It was always going to be a heavy lift. The U.S. has only elected one president – Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 – who wasn’t a white man. As the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, Harris had risen higher in the country’s leadership than any other woman.
President Joe Biden and Harris walk to deliver remarks on gun violence at the White House in September. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
The only other woman to get as close as she did – Hillary Clinton, defeated by Trump in 2016 – staked her candidacy in part on becoming the first female president. In the wake of Clinton’s loss, Harris resisted putting her identity at the center of her campaign, said close aides and advisors. Instead, she tried to galvanize voters on issues that mattered to women and Black voters in the election – from abortion rights to middle-class tax cuts and housing affordability.
But those messages struggled to break through at a time when many voters were fixated on rising consumer prices during the first three years of the Biden administration.
But those messages struggled to break through at a time when many voters were fixated on rising consumer prices during the first three years of the Biden administration.
“Despite fairly strong economic growth, especially after a major global pandemic, most Americans weren’t feeling like they were getting ahead economically,” said Melissa Deckman, a political scientist and chief executive of Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research firm. “The Harris campaign did not necessarily do a good job of explaining how her policies would help the middle class, or at least that message wasn’t really resonating with a lot of voters.”
A majority of voters said they trust Trump more to handle the economy, with 51% saying they did so compared to 47% for Harris, according to a preliminarynational exit poll conducted by data provider Edison Research. And the voters who identified the economy as their primary concern voted overwhelmingly for Trump over Harris - 79% to 20%.
The economy proved to be a much bigger concern among voters than reproductive rights, with 31% of voters saying the economy mattered most in deciding how to vote compared with 14% who cited abortion. The election also saw a large gender gap. Harris won 54% of women voters in the country, while Trump won 44%, the preliminary exit polls showed.
The Harris and Trump campaigns and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said early on Wednesday to a roaring crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
The Harris and Trump campaigns and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said early on Wednesday to a roaring crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
ELECTORAL GOLD
The election was punctuated by dramatic twists, including two assassination attempts against Trump and the stunning decision by Biden to abandon his re-
election bid on July 21.
Democrats coalesced behind Harris with astonishing speed, locking up her party’s nomination within two weeks, excited by her potential to flip the generational argument on Trump. Two decades her senior, Trump had successfully cast the 81-year-old Biden as a frail and confused old man. She would turn that on its head, many Democrats hoped.
Harris speaks to a child holding a picture of herself and Harris during a campaign rally in Houston, Texas, in October. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Harris speaks to a child holding a picture of herself and Harris during a campaign rally in Houston, Texas, in October. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Some Democratic strategists questioned the wisdom of one of her first big decisions: picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as running mate over Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a deft speaker with proven political strength in a must-win state. Her campaign had hoped the gun-owning Walz, a liberal policy champion and plain-speaking National Guardsman from the Midwest, would help her win over rural white voters.
Walz had generated buzz before Harris picked him by branding Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, as “weird” on national television in July, winning Democratic hearts and media attention. Later, though, Walz gained unwelcome attention for misstatements of his biography, including his military service, and for an uneven debate performance against Vance.
Walz and Vance didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Still, the Harris campaign believed her signature issues – reproductive rights and Trump’s divisiveness – would energize a coalition of women, Black voters, young Americans, independents and “Never Trump” Republicans, sweeping her to the White House.
Well before the race began, Harris emerged as a spokesperson for abortion rights. When the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 officially reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring the constitutional right to abortion no longer existed, the setback for women’s reproductive rights created an unexpected opening for Harris.
The ruling catapulted her from the political periphery into the heart of America’s culture wars. Opinion polls showed most Americans disapproved of the court’s decision – and Harris became the face of an issue that Democratic strategists saw as electoral gold.
Harris speaks about abortion rights at a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, in September. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
Harris speaks about abortion rights at a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, in September. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
For the first time in Biden’s presidency, he handed a decisive issue entirely to his vice president. She went on the road, speaking forcefully on a subject that played an outsized role in helping Democrats stave off an expected bloodbath in the 2022 congressional elections. After the midterms, with the Democrats having held the Senate and swung to a slight minority in the House of Representatives, Harris was now seen as a viable future leader in the party.
Still, even after Biden stepped aside, concerns lingered among some top White House aides over the former San Francisco district attorney’s political skills – including a perception that she hadn’t made a mark as VP, her short-lived campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination and her limited experience courting conservative voters in battleground states. Some also questioned whether she could overcome the long history of racial and gender discrimination in the U.S.
After securing the nomination, Harris initially put many of those concerns to rest. She revitalized a beleaguered Democratic campaign, attracting record-high funding and a groundswell of support. She soon moved ahead of Trump in the polls, a sign she was sparking enthusiasm among voters, particularly among women. Trump had previously been seen as the frontrunner, partly based on his perceived strength on the economy after several years of high inflation under Biden.
After securing the nomination, Harris initially put many of those concerns to rest. She revitalized a beleaguered Democratic campaign, attracting record-high funding and a groundswell of support. She soon moved ahead of Trump in the polls, a sign she was sparking enthusiasm among voters, particularly among women. Trump had previously been seen as the frontrunner, partly based on his perceived strength on the economy after several years of high inflation under Biden.
She aced her first big test – a Sept. 10 televised debate against Trump.
As Harris’s team prepared for what would be her only in-person face-off with Trump, they focused on ways to unnerve the former president and draw attention to his frequent falsehoods on policies, according to several aides involved in the preparations. Harris holed up in Pittsburgh with advisers and conducted mock debates for the prime-time showdown, the aides said.
The strategy paid off. Harris appeared to get under her rival’s skin during the debate. She pressed Trump on the economy, Ukraine, healthcare, the January 2021 Capitol riots and abortion, leaving him rattled and struggling to respond.
The strategy paid off. Harris appeared to get under her rival’s skin during the debate. She pressed Trump on the economy, Ukraine, healthcare, the January 2021 Capitol riots and abortion, leaving him rattled and struggling to respond.
