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.

However, the interview quickly turned sour when she was asked what she would have done differently from incumbent President Joe Biden. Her response: “Not a thing comes to mind.”

Harris’s answer – seized upon by Republicans and featured prominently in attack ads – highlighted the **critical weaknesses** in her campaign against a resilient Donald Trump.

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

But introspection on her missteps and potential alternatives will take time as Democrats start blaming each other and questioning the party’s future direction.

Harris campaign officials remained silent in the early Wednesday hours, while some aides were visibly shocked, having anticipated a much tighter 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 struggled to distance herself from an increasingly unpopular Biden and failed to convince voters that she could deliver the change they desperately sought amidst economic uncertainties.

Biden’s Baggage

After Biden exited the race following a disastrous debate performance, Harris was thrust to the forefront without the rigorous scrutiny of a primary.

She launched her 100-day campaign with promises of a “new generation of leadership,” aiming to rally women around abortion rights and win back working-class voters by addressing economic issues like rising costs and housing affordability.

With just three months until election day, she initially gained momentum, fueled by social media buzz, high-profile endorsements including Taylor Swift, and a surge in donations. Yet, Harris couldn’t overcome the pervasive anti-Biden sentiment affecting many voters.

The president’s approval rating remained stubbornly low in the low 40s throughout his four years, with about two-thirds of voters believing the US is on the wrong track.

Some allies privately questioned whether Harris was too loyal to Biden in her attempt to replace him. However, Jamal Simmons, the vice-president’s former communication director, dismissed these concerns as a “trap,” suggesting that distancing herself would have only provided Republicans with another attack vector.

“You can’t really run away from the president who chooses you,” he stated.

Harris attempted to balance addressing the administration’s record without directly criticizing Biden, showing reluctance to break from Biden’s policies while not actively promoting them on the campaign trail.

Consequently, she failed to present a compelling case for her leadership and did not effectively address economic frustrations or widespread concerns over immigration.

Approximately 3 in 10 voters reported that their family’s financial situation was worsening, up from about 2 in 10 four years ago, according to AP VoteCast data from a NORC survey at the University of Chicago.

Nine in 10 voters expressed significant concern about grocery prices.

The same survey revealed that 4 in 10 voters believe immigrants living in the US illegally should be deported to their home countries, an increase from around 3 in 10 in 2020.

Although Harris aimed to emphasize that her administration would not simply continue Biden’s legacy, she failed to clearly outline her own policies, often avoiding direct engagement with key issues.

Struggling to Build on Biden’s Support Base

The Harris campaign aimed to rebuild the voting base that secured Biden’s 2020 victory, targeting core Democratic groups like black, Latino, and young voters, as well as seeking gains among college-educated suburban voters.

However, she fell short with these crucial demographics, losing 13 points among Latino voters, two points among black voters, and six points among voters under 30, according to exit polls. These figures, while subject to change, indicate clear trends.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who previously lost Democratic primaries to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, remarked it was “no great surprise” that working-class voters deserted the party.

“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change,” Sanders stated. “And they’re right.”

While women largely supported Harris over Trump, her lead did not meet the expectations her campaign had set for her historic candidacy. Moreover, she failed to attract suburban Republican women, losing 53% of white women.

In the first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, Democrats hoped her emphasis on reproductive rights would secure a decisive victory.

Although 54% of female voters backed Harris, this was below the 57% who supported Biden in 2020, according to exit polls.

Focusing Too Much on Trump

Even before being thrust to the top of the ticket, Harris aimed to frame the race as a referendum on Trump rather than Biden.

The former California prosecutor leveraged her law enforcement background to challenge the former president.

However, her campaign shifted away from Biden’s primary argument that Trump posed a threat to democracy, opting instead for a forward-looking “joyful” message about protecting personal freedoms and preserving the middle class.

In the final days, Harris reverted to highlighting the dangers of a second Trump presidency, labeling the president a “fascist” and appealing to disaffected Republicans frustrated with his rhetoric.

After Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, told the New York Times that Trump spoke approvingly of Adolf Hitler, Harris responded by describing the president as “unhinged and unstable” outside her official residence.

Why Harris Shifted from ‘Joy’ to Calling Trump a ‘Fascist’

“Kamala Harris lost this election when she pivoted to focus almost exclusively on attacking Donald Trump,” veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz remarked on Tuesday night.

“Voters already know everything there is about Trump – but they still wanted to know more about Harris’ plans for the first hour, first day, first month and first year of her administration.”

“It was a colossal failure for her campaign to shine the spotlight on Trump more than on Harris’s own ideas,” he added.

Ultimately, the coalition Harris needed to defeat Trump never came together, and voters’ decisive rejection of Democrats revealed that the party faces deeper issues beyond an unpopular president.