Political Strategist Reveals Kamala Harris Made One Big Mistake On Live TV That Led to Her Loss

Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race to former president Donald Trump on 5th November. Experts are now weighing in on what exactly went wrong during the Democratic leader's campaign appearances that marred her chances of gaining the top office. According to The Wrap, Democratic strategist James Carville stated that the crux of Harris' campaign was her inability to set herself apart from President Joe Biden in an interview on the popular ABC daytime talk show The View. 

“I think if this campaign is reducible to one moment, we are in a 65% wrong-track country,” Carville said while appearing on the Bulwark podcast. “The country wants something different. And she’s asked, as is so often the case, in a friendly audience, on The View, ‘How would you be different than Biden?’ That’s the one question that you exist to answer, alright? That is it. That’s the money question. That’s the one you want. That’s the one that everybody wants to know the answer to. And you freeze! You literally freeze and say, ‘Well, I can’t think of anything.’” 

As per Huff Post, the historic decisive moment on live television came when Harris was asked by co-host Sunny Hostin if she would have "done something differently" than Biden.

“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris responded. “And I’ve been part of most of the decisions that have had an impact.” Democratic strategists remain perplexed by the response. Although Harris faced a particularly difficult political climate, many Democrats believe that her failure to more clearly distance herself from Biden stands out as a crucial and evident error. 

Alyssa Cass, lead strategist for Blueprint, a Democratic message-testing project stated that it's difficult to set oneself apart from the administration you're a part of. However, you couldn't just state, "We're different in terms of our age or where we come from," if you wanted any chance of succeeding. Strategist Carville called Harris' answer the most devastating one could imagine.

Additionally, Hostin questioned Harris about the most significant "specific" distinction between a Biden presidency and a possible Harris presidency. The vice president retorted that they're two different personalities and one of the things her administration would be focusing on is health care. 

As per Huff Post, Carville continued by saying that "winning is everything," that it is more significant than loyalty, and that "you have done nothing" if you don't do it. He went on to say that when you are a presidential candidate, you are not permitted to respond humanly to the most important question in the election, which is how you plan to differ from your opponent. “And we’re unfortunately finding out the hard way, but I am sure that when we are told what happened on ‘The View’ it’s going to be, ‘Well, they’re giving me the answer but I just couldn’t get the words out of my mouth,’” he concluded while referring to Harris.