WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris failed to connect with voters while her campaign aides focused on trivial issues, leading to her lopsided election loss to former President Donald Trump, Democratic insiders tell The Post.
Harris, 60, replaced President Biden, 81, atop the Democratic ticket in late July and quickly surged in polling while raking in about $1 billion over a six-week period — massively out-raising Trump, 78, and providing the resources to drive home her early advantage over the Republican nominee.
Her failure to seal the deal outraged Democrats, including those who worked in the Biden-Harris administration and on her campaign.
“I’ve worked on five presidential campaigns. I knew this would be hard. Others acted like they knew they were going to win,” said one person who chipped in during the final stretch of the race.
“They were arrogant.”
Among those getting the blame Wednesday were Harris herself and campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon — with one musing: “Where did $1 billion go?”
Insiders also heaped blame on Obama campaign alums David Plouffe and Stephanie Cutter, saying they misjudged what issues really mattered to voters.
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The duo “tried an Obama play with a non-Obama candidate,” said one source close to the Harris campaign. “They are the worst.”
Ultimately, Harris flopped because “people didn’t connect with her,” this person said.
“[O’Malley Dillion] managed political and ground operations — Cutter and Plouffe were doing messaging and ads and they misjudged what people cared about because cable news and Twitter are not real life. Biden should have never run [in 2024] AND the party is too far left.”
Harris’ message focused heavily on restoring abortion rights and respecting democratic norms — while Trump hammered home the impact of government spending-driven inflation that caused prices to spike nearly 22% since Biden and Harris took office, as well as security and economic concerns around record-breaking illegal immigration.
Harris disavowed or declined to comment on many of her more progressive prior policy stances — including banning hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas, decriminalizing illegal border crossings and providing free sex change operations to detained illegal immigrants.
“F—king idiots,” a third Democratic source said of the messaging. “People are fed up. How’s that Inflation Reduction Act working out, Chuck [Schumer]?”
“I think broadly the staff of Democratic campaigns are not representative of the country,” said the source who worked on the Harris campaign late in the race.
“Like these staffers, advisers and consultants who went to Ivy League schools and are [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] liberals don’t represent real Americans,” they added.
“The campaign staff live in a vacuum of ‘they/them’ and ‘Latinx.’”
“I also think field programs don’t do anything and Dems have such faith in field and door knocking. Trump didn’t do any of that,” the source went on — referring to the massive Harris initiative to get volunteers to knock on doors in swing states such as Pennsylvania.
Biden, whom Democratic mutineers forced to step aside over his apparent cognitive decline, “would have been crushed. But [Michigan Gov. Gretchen] Whitmer, [and North Carolina Gov.] Roy Cooper would have won,” the campaign alum said.
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“I blame Biden for not announcing earlier that he wouldn’t run. Dems could have had a robust open primary,” this person continued, while adding: “I think [the briefly floated concept of a] mini-primary was a pipe dream.”
A fourth Democratic insider was unsparing in their criticism of Harris.
“She was a s–t candidate and Trump made her look worse than Hillary Clinton,” said this source.
“Biden didn’t deserve that treatment and he got pushed out for an empty pantsuit. At least Biden beat Trump and Hillary Clinton had more balls than either of them.”
Others on the receiving end of the finger-pointing include White House staff seen as contributing to rot in Democratic politics and messaging — including first lady Jill Biden’s Rasputin-like adviser Anthony Bernal, who allegedly bullied staff and eclipsed White House chief of staff Jeff Zients in power; as well as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Jean-Pierre has served as the top Biden-Harris administration spokesperson since May 2022, despite her widely perceived poor communication skills and an internal effort to replace her last year.
The effect, one former White House aide argued, was to destroy the Democratic Party’s standing on the issues.
“We lost the messaging on the economy during the administration,” this person said. “That is a reflection of [Jean-Pierre] and her being weak.
“If you say democracy is at stake … act like it.”
