February 3, 2025

OK, CHIEF: The DNC’s outgoing chair says Democrats should have stuck with Joe Biden in 2024.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Jaime Harrison reflected on why his party lost to Donald Trump and what might have happened had then-Vice President Kamala Harris had more time to campaign after Biden ended his reelection bid following a disastrous debate performance.

He also offered advice to his eventual successor, who will be chosen Saturday. The next DNC chair, Harrison said, needs to insist that the party not be a “rubber stamp” to its presidential candidate.

Here are excerpts from that conversation:

Why did Harris and Democrats lose the White House?

HARRISON: “I don’t know that there’s one answer. A lot of people like to come up with things, and they say it’s the economy. Well, it could have been a part of it. I think every state had their own little nuance. In Michigan, the Palestinian issue played something there.”

“The gap in which she lost wasn’t huge, but when you add up little pockets where it’s, some people because of Gaza, some people because of the economy, some people because she was a woman. And I think in many of those states, those little nicks here and there added up to how she lost in some of those states.”

Message: A vacant-eyed, mouth-breathing Biden is still a better candidate than Harris.

I wonder how Harris and her people are responding to that message.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green