Sen. Kamala Harris has called it quits. Despite the initial promise of her presidential campaign, particularly after she gained steam following the first debate, she was never able to sustain her momentum. She didn’t give enough voters a reason to believe in her or her message, and with a pool of unique and talented candidates, voters and donors alike had the option to look elsewhere, and they did.
Despite all of the hope and promise of her campaign, she failed to do four key things that are general rules of thumb for any aspiring presidential hopeful:
- Harris never clearly highlighted who she was as a candidate.
- She never made it clear why she was running.
- It was never clearly articulated what her top issues were.
- It was never clear what demographic group would be her base of support that would sustain her candidacy.
The failure to answer the above questions made you ask, “Will the real Kamala Harris please stand up?” It was never clear who she truly was. She attempted to be a candidate of all things for all people, and that undoubtedly led to her downfall.
Campaigns are tasked with taking the complexities of politics and translating them into simple themes for voters to understand. When running against multiple people, it becomes all the more important to be able to elevate yourself and your message above the rest of the field. Harris continuously struggled to do so.
As a candidate, she seemed to change with the wind. Whichever way the wind blew, she blew, and it was that constant change that created turmoil within her campaign. This was clear long before Kelly Mehlenbacher, Harris’s state operations director, resigned in a blistering public resignation letter. Mehlenbacher wrote how “with less than 90 days until Iowa we still do not have a real plan to win.”
It’s challenging to create a cogent strategy for a candidate who constantly struggled with defining herself. If a candidate never cements who they are, it’s not realistic to expect a campaign to create a clear strategy. It just isn’t sustainable, nor is it practical, because adjusting to constant change consumes the campaign instead of promoting the candidate.
The lack of a cohesive strategy will cause a candidate to decline. When a candidate declines in the poll, money dries up as donors, both big and small, look to hitch a ride with the winning horse. Without money, it’s impossible to compete and organize in multiple states and counties, which is essential when you’re running against numerous people in a large primary.
The pitfalls and mistakes are clear. Wisely, Harris decided to drop out of the race instead of trying to run on fumes. Her political career isn’t over yet — she’s already a top contender to be the Democratic nominee’s running mate. Harris, a talented politician and a woman of color, is uniquely positioned to help whoever becomes the Democratic nominee by building the necessary type of coalition to give Democrats a competitive advantage in 2020.
Shermichael Singleton (@Shermichael_) is a Republican strategist and political analyst regularly appearing on MSNBC.
