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As Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is left to lick the wounds of her election defeat, Democrats have begun to blame certain campaign decisions for the loss—including her selection of the "wrong" running mate.
Knewz.com has learned that many Democratic supporters and officials have blamed Harris's decision to choose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as the Vice Presidential nominee for her failed Presidential bid.
It has been pointed out that the "leading alternative" to Walz – who contested the elections amidst stolen valor accusations – was the "charismatic and popular" Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Given Pennsylvania's importance as a swing state, Democrats wonder whether choosing the state's governor as the Democratic vice presidential nominee could have made a difference in the elections, which saw Harris lose in all seven battleground states.
Pennsylvania-based senior Democratic official Lindy Li believes that choosing Shapiro as her running mate would have not only made an impact in Pennsylvania but could have also been beneficial for the Harris campaign as a whole.
"People are wondering tonight what would have happened had Shapiro been on the ticket. And not only in terms of Pennsylvania," Li said in a statement to Fox News.
She explained that choosing Shapiro, a moderate, as her running mate would have "signaled to the American people that she is not the San Francisco liberal that Trump said she was."
"But she went with someone actually to her Left... In the eyes of the American people, Walz was the governor who oversaw the protests," Li added.
Donald Trump won Pennsylvania with 50.5% votes—commanding a two-point lead over Harris, per the data released by The Associated Press.
It is worth noting that much like in 2016, Trump once again breached the "blue wall" on November 5, effectively flipping several swing states over to his side.
Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania all voted Democrat in 2020 but showed their support for Trump this time around.
Notably, Georgia, which voted for the Democratic Presidential candidates in both 2016 and 2020, saw Trump win with a solid two-point lead in the 2024 elections, according to reports published by The New York Times.
David Schultz, an author and political science professor at Minnesota’s Hamline University, said in a statement that Biden had managed to win in the "blue wall" swing states in 2020 because of the way Trump handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, with the coronavirus panic having passed, Trump seems to have regained his footing in the said states.
Another reason to which experts have attributed Harris's election defeat is the issue of policies.
Schultz pointed out that while the economy was very much a hot-button issue this election, Harris chose to focus more on the issue of abortion and related healthcare. Although abortion is an important topic, a preliminary national exit poll conducted by data provider Edison Research showed that only 14% of the voters cared about it.
In contrast, 31% of the voters participating in the Edison Research poll said they would cast their vote based on how each candidate decides to handle the economy.
Schultz commented that “economic issues along with feelings of being ignored drove the Trump victory,” adding that Democrats failed to address it sufficiently "in the three blue wall states."
Democrats also blamed Harris's defeat on the fact that she allegedly "failed to stake out her policy positions." They also said that she did not distance herself from Biden – who reports say "was underwater in public approval ratings" – and his policies.
It has been pointed out in this regard that in a previous appearance on the talk show The View, the Vice President was asked what she would have done differently to Biden during the past four years, to which Harris replied, "There is not a thing that comes to mind."
On the other hand, MSNBC commentator Joy Reid blamed "white women" for Harris's failed Presidential bid, saying: "In the end, they didn’t make their numbers. We have to be blunt about why; black voters came through for Harris, white women voters did not."
CNN contributor and former Barack Obama adviser Van Jones attributed Harris's loss to "celebrity-filled rallies."
"I don’t think people understand, working people sometimes have to choose. Am I going to go to the big, cool concert and pay for babysitting for that or am I going to figure out a way to get to the polls? I don’t like these big star-studded events." Jones said in a statement.