Kyle Cave
Contributing Writer
Kamala Harris’s loss is being blamed on many factors by political pundits. Some say “it’s the economy stupid,” her policy on Gaza, her lack of interviews, sexism or racism. I believe it is a lot of issues bundled up into one that is almost impossible to try and fix all at once.
July 21, 2024, is when current president Joe Biden dropped out of the race for a second term for president. Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in and, at the time, it felt like a new fresh air of hope. Everyone was making BRAT style coconut memes on TikTok and X and it felt like nothing could stop Kamala Harris. She had a solid debate performance, was leading in the polls and had several good interviews.
November 5, 2024, I went out with my mom to my local polling station, casted my vote for her and thought to myself “this will be a slam dunk for her.” Throughout the day and night, I watched CNN’s election coverage, and as the night went on from approximately 8:00 PM to around 2:00 AM I watched the results come in and slowly but surely my hopes were crushed in front of me.
I was at first in denial and thought the “Red Mirage” phenomenon was happening. This is a phenomenon where a Republican candidate is leading in the results first because Republican states are usually the first to get counted. But I was wrong, I woke up at my usual time 5 AM and at 5:20 AM, CNN anchor John Berman called the election for Donald Trump.
Like many of you I thought to myself “how did this happen? Why did this happen? This isn’t right…” This piece I’m writing isn’t to give a solid answer to that, this is just to give my thoughts on what happened Tuesday night and why I think it happened.
First things first, yes one hundred percent her race and her being a woman have something to do with it. There are political pundits out there on every network that are specifying she did not focus enough on policy, and I do agree that Harris should have hammered home on policies like Medicare for All, doubling down on Biden’s college debt relief, etc. But even if she did those things, I still feel like it would have been the same result. People forget America still has a lot of ignorant racist, sexist people still living in this country. Some Democrats are stressing that she should have run more on policy and yes, she could have done that, but Trump won not only the electoral vote, but also the popular vote by more than three million votes.
It was clear that this country had already made up its mind on who they wanted to vote for long ago. Everyone is looking to the Democratic Party in improving their message and getting a better candidate and improving messaging. And while I think they should do these things; I think it’s also important to hold voters to the same responsibility as well. At the end of the day, we the voters make the ultimate decision on who we want leading our country, and in that voting booth we are the ones to scribble in that bubble for who we want and who we vote for. This win we saw last week reflects the country and the several issues that we face as a country.
Donald Trump ran one of, in my opinion, the worst campaigns in American history, filled with insults, demonization and harmful rhetoric against minorities. I can go on all day about the things he has said during his campaign for president and how bad they were, not to mention he admitted on the debate stage back in September that he had no plans, only “concepts of plans.”
But despite all of that, he still won.
This just shows us as a country we have so much work to do, all of Trump’s seventy-five million voters are individuals who are not going away. They will be around to stay, and even some of my generation, Gen Z, voted for him. We as a country moving forward must confront all these reasons why she lost.
Confront the racism & sexism of individuals who voted against her, improve the working-class messaging with the next candidate, have a stronger stance on the ongoing war in Gaza and much more. Some individuals are trying to sideline the social issues and problems of why she lost, and to me that’s not healthy.
We must recognize as a country that yes, this country has a lot of discrimination, and we must have a concrete plan of fixing it. No longer must we sit on the sidelines and just let it go, of course you cannot change everyone, people are going to be who they are no matter what. But a lot of individuals can be persuaded to do the right thing and persuaded to not thinking the way they think.
The problem with this country is people say, “you don’t talk religion or politics with people.” But if we don’t have discussions about these very important topics, especially politics, how are we going to understand the median voter? We cannot expect everyone to just turn their head and pretend like the topics of politics aren’t relevant or important. Of course, I do not expect everyone to change the people they talk to, that’s impossible. But it is to me extremely important to see how your loved one’s think and your friends think. These are the people that will be using their voices to vote in upcoming elections, so I think it is very important to know where they stand so they can make the best decisions.
The days after the election, in Google trends you saw a spike in people searching up things such as “Trump’s tariffs,” “how can I change my vote” and “regret my vote for Donald Trump.” I think it is extremely important that people are informed about the important decisions they make in this country, especially if they involve others. What’s done is done now, and we must brace ourselves for what’s next. But next time, we have a chance to make a difference with our choice. I think it is time for everyone to have those uncomfortable conversations with our loved ones. Not only is it important for our country, but important for our democracy.