When former Vice President Kamala Harris rebranded her 2024 campaign social media accounts as a “new Gen-Z led progressive content hub” ahead of the midterm elections, she attracted both cheerleaders and scoffers.
Some Democrats hailed Harris for visionary outreach to younger voters in a crucial election year with control of Congress on the line. Others mocked the apparent reference to the 67 meme in the account name, which was quickly abandoned.
“While some think it’s cringe, others think it’s smart,” is how one reporter put it in what might be an apt description of the divide over Harris’s whole political career.
Harris lost the 2024 presidential election, paving the way for President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. On the one hand, she probably improved on former President Joe Biden’s likely performance had he continued his reelection campaign, saving some down-ballot Democrats in tight races and losing the popular vote by just 1.5 points. Democrats were still able to pull out Senate contests in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada, while Harris came up short in those states.
Yet, Harris also received 6 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. She was the first Democratic presidential nominee to lose the popular vote in 20 years and only the second to do so since Michael Dukakis was defeated by George H.W. Bush in 1988. She lost all seven battleground states. Perhaps of greatest concern to Democratic donors, she blew through $1 billion in campaign cash.
Harris has yet to win a single Democratic primary. She was granted the nomination at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago when Biden dropped out after the primaries were over, facing no competition. She ended her first presidential campaign before the 2020 primaries even started, but was later tapped as Biden’s running mate.
In recent months, it looked like Harris might have been eclipsed by another ambitious Democrat from her home state, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who has consistently found ways to needle and oppose Trump. Newsom and Harris have been seen as rivals in the past.
Despite all this, Harris is still standing. She leads among Democratic primary voters nationally by 5.8 points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. A recent Harvard-Harris poll showed her beating Newsom by 9 points while Rasmussen Reports had her up by 14. The Republican polling firm Echelon Insights still has Newsom on top. Potential Harris challengers have yet to make much headway with black voters, an important primary constituency that helped seal Barack Obama’s nomination in 2008 and rescue Biden’s flagging campaign in 2020.
Harris’s campaign memoir, 107 Days, sold well. (The title, which references how long she had to run for president after Biden bowed out, is her main explanation for why she lost in 2024.) On her book tour, she attracted adoring crowds who often urged her to run again.
The Harris social media relaunch suggests that she understands she needs to play a positive role in helping Democrats win in this year’s midterm elections. This will help rebuild confidence in her political skills among Democratic insiders and create a roster of Democrats who owe her politically when it comes time to seek endorsements.
But it is still early. Harris’s poll numbers are at least partly due to high name recognition compared to the other candidates. And a lot of Democrats still need convincing. “Many Democratic powerbrokers in D.C. are done with Kamala Harris,” Axios reported last month, seeing her as a reminder of Biden’s failures. The outlet quoted a “top Democrat” as saying, “Kamala hasn’t accepted she’s not running yet.”
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Democrats haven’t dusted off and renominated a losing presidential standardbearer since Adlai Stevenson in 1956 (he lost a second time). Neither Al Gore nor Hillary Clinton tried again, despite winning the popular vote. When John Kerry made noises about another run after losing in 2004, there was little interest.
It will take more than memes and TikTok reels for Harris to break this trend. Her previous presidential campaigns have started strong and then faltered. But for now, Harris appears determined to try.