WASHINGTON − Vice President Kamala Harris took a moment to collect herself.

Her voice trembled as she recounted her conversation with Donald Trump.

“I understand that many people are feeling a mix of emotions right now. I completely empathize,” she stated in her concession speech at Howard University on Wednesday. “However, we need to accept the results of this election.”

In the last stretch of her campaign, Harris relentlessly criticized Trump, labeling him a fascist and questioning his mental health. Her efforts proved ineffective.

Despite her extensive campaigning, Trump was poised to defeat Harris in every critical swing state, even with her strong campaign strategy and significant financial backing.

Debates erupted about whether President Biden should have stepped back earlier or if Harris failed to engage enough with core Democratic voters. Many wondered if her initial presidential aspiration had been doomed from the very beginning.

Harris had not planned to run for president until 2028, so when the opportunity arose, she had less than three months to build a coalition capable of winning against Trump. She made a meaningful decision to not bank on the white working-class men who had previously supported Biden.

As she stood on the brink of making history, she instead sought support from a diverse group of suburban women, Black voters, and anti-Trump Republicans.

In her final campaign efforts, she actively pursued undecided voters in counties right next to solid Democratic areas. She partnered with the Obamas and even former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, highlighting issues like women’s rights, Trump’s qualifications for presidency, and the safeguarding of American democracy.

Harris presumed that her experience as vice president would provide her an edge.

However, the turnout she needed from suburban women, independents, Black men, Hispanic voters, moderate Republicans, Asian Americans, blue-collar workers, and Gen Z voters didn’t materialize. The reliable Democratic support base faltered, and the Sun Belt states shifted unexpectedly.

“All the ‘secret Kamala’ voters – they were just secret Trump supporters,” lamented progressive strategist Angelo Greco after Harris spoke at Howard.

Throughout her campaign, Harris exhibited the same reticence that marked her vice presidency; she occasionally revealed her true self, only to withdraw into her shell again.

Supporters contended that she was not solely at fault. She had inherited a campaign structure from Biden that was already in disarray, with top aides lacking experience in engaging communities of color.

Democrats recognized that the upcoming election would be closely contested, and Harris admitted early on that she was lagging behind.

“Biden was struggling; she stepped in and we did everything possible in just about three months,” stated Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, the day after the election.

The party now had to closely examine why voters reacted the way they did to Harris, she noted. “I don’t think that all of it falls on her.”

Harris realized that her political destiny was tied to Biden’s, regardless of the election outcome, and she worked hard for the past 2½ years to prevent a negative association.

But then, Biden made a pivotal decision about her future without consulting her first.

Biden’s choice has significant consequences for Harris

It began as an ordinary weekend for the vice president. Following a fundraiser for Biden in Provincetown, Massachusetts, she spent a cozy evening with her niece Meena and her two great-nieces.

Biden’s career was in jeopardy after a disastrous debate performance. Harris had remained loyal, with her inner circle advised against discussing what might happen next.

The following morning, he called her to say it was over. Harris then reached out to her husband, Doug Emhoff, and her closest advisors sprang into action.

They had been quietly preparing for a potential Harris campaign since 2022, compiling a list of everyone they had met throughout her political journey—from events to casual encounters.

“After the debate, many voices were urging us to be prepared,” said one individual involved in these discussions.

“We kept everything ready, so if the moment arose, we could act swiftly,” they added. “And we did just that.”

Harris would wait several hours after Biden’s announcement of her candidacy to go public herself. She was meticulous and thoughtful, drafting multiple versions of her announcement. She aimed to show respect to Biden, who her team believed had been unfairly treated by his so-called allies.

The shift toward Harris Jason Vaughn, a 50-year-old nurse practitioner from Greensboro, North Carolina, shared in an interview in October that he felt a sense of energy and hope.

Biden was adamant about staying on the ticket, claiming he was the best chance for the Democrats to defeat the former president. However, it was implied that he did not believe Harris—who some within the party had suggested replacing a year earlier—could win the election.

Marc Morial, a civil rights leader and ally of Biden and Harris, explained in a pre-election interview that Biden’s withdrawal would have created disorder within the Democratic Party due to an influx of individuals vying for a brokered convention.

However, Democratic voters had a different perspective. Nikole Dobrovalski, 52, attending Harris’ rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, noted that if Biden had chosen not to run for reelection, Harris would have had more time to campaign.

“In most cases, people had already made their decisions,” Dobrovalski stated.

While Biden initially propelled Harris into the national spotlight, he ultimately became a burden for her campaign. Facing significant pressure to define her identity apart from Biden, Harris chose to remain loyal.

This reluctance to distance herself from Biden negatively impacted her in the race, as polling data from the Democratic firm Blueprint indicated. According to their research, making slight modifications to her rhetoric could have eased her separation from Biden on key issues like the economy, immigration, and foreign policy.

Harris finally distanced herself from Biden only after he called her challenger’s supporters “garbage,” following a racist joke made during a Trump rally about Puerto Rico just a week before the election.

Although Harris was annoyed that the incident stole focus from her speech at the Ellipse in Washington, she hesitated to criticize her friend, according to someone familiar with the situation.

During the campaign, Biden and Harris operated separately, with Harris aiming to showcase her generational and societal transformations by collaborating with entertainers like Cardi B and Beyonce. As she rallied her supporters at the Ellipse, the sitting president was politically confined to the White House.

A pivotal moment for Harris’ vice presidency

Efforts to revitalize Harris began in 2022 after anonymous reports criticized her within party circles.

She reshuffled her team and initiated a recovery campaign, strategically visiting early primary and battleground states to discuss progressive topics during the midterms, even touring over two dozen college campuses.

Her strategy targeted women, particularly those concerned about abortion rights, alongside younger voters who weren’t as drawn to the president.

“We recognized the importance of these two groups,” shared a person involved in the planning, “and we aimed to demonstrate our ability to engage them and silence the critics.”

They managed to stop the downward trend but needed to act quickly to familiarize a broader audience with her candidacy once she became the nominee.

The campaign enlisted celebrities familiar with Harris, including actress Kerry Washington, who praised Harris’ commitment to accessibility.

“She is making every effort to be present and reachable as much as possible,” Washington stated in a YSL News interview in October.

Harris’ friends and longtime aides highlight her relatable demeanor, especially evident in intimate settings, a contrast from her former roles as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

“She’s accustomed to conversing with individuals in distress and in personal settings, a side of her that’s not widely visible,” noted Kristine Lucius, who served as Harris’ domestic policy adviser and her last chief of staff in the Senate, in an interview in October.

Harris focuses on moderate Republicans and suburban women

This personal side of Harris was what Republican strategist Sarah Longwell witnessed backstage with her family at an event near Philadelphia.

Longwell, who runs “The Bulwark,” previously met with Harris a few weeks earlier. The campaign had asked her to moderate a discussion with Liz Cheney and undecided voters. Much like during Harris’ rehabilitation efforts, the VP’s team selectively chose participants for the questions.

Longwell knew from her focus groups that undecided voters felt unfamiliar with Harris. She prompted the vice president to clarify how her administration would differ from Biden’s.

“My presidency won’t mirror the Biden administration. I will introduce my own ideas and experiences,” Harris replied.

Harris’ campaign specifically targeted independent voters leaning right and moderate Republicans, who had previously backed Nikki Haley in the GOP primary, aiming to increase their support.

They organized events in key states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan with Cheney. Arizona was also on their radar, particularly since it had been represented by the late U.S. Senator John McCain, whose son, Jim, endorsed Harris.

The campaign felt confident that these voters could be swayed to their side.

Furthermore, they relied on women, hoping that many would vote for Harris quietly and keep their choice hidden from their husbands.

Harris had a solid lead in polling among women nationwide and in key swing states. The campaign believed that emphasizing reproductive rights could motivate young, independent, and Republican-leaning women, particularly those living in suburban areas, to turn out to vote.

Two years earlier, Harris trusted her instincts and focused on abortion rights, which had become a central theme for her on the Judiciary Committee while in the Senate. As a presidential candidate, she maintained this focus, even though polls indicated that economic concerns were more pressing for most voters than abortion.

Harris referred to state-level restrictions as “Trump abortion bans” and suggested that if he had the chance, the Republican would support a federal law on the matter. In the campaign’s final week, she intensified her rhetoric about ensuring women’s rights “whether they like it or not.”

Supportive organizations had already established groundwork in Michigan, where a ballot measure for abortion rights was approved in 2022, and in Wisconsin, where Democrats took control of the state Supreme Court on the issue in 2023. These groups were aligned with her strategy.

However, the strategy did not succeed. In important suburban areas of both states and in Pennsylvania, she failed to replicate or surpass Biden’s performance from four years prior. Exit polls indicated she secured a similar percentage of Republican votes as Biden had.

White working-class men remain constant; Hispanic men shift towards Trump

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who is part of Harris’ national advisory board, expressed optimism in a late-October interview.

Having traveled from Chicago to Kenosha and Waukesha, Pritzker reflected on a canvassing event where he acknowledged that emphasizing saving democracy might not resonate effectively.

“Ultimately, the big motivator for people is about their family, their community, and whether they believe they would fare better with a certain candidate,” he remarked in the interview following the event.

Polls indicated a significant gender divide, with Harris struggling to connect with male voters. Historically, blue-collar voters had been Biden’s strong suit. To address this, Harris dispatched her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to regain their support in the Midwest.

Ultimately, Harris managed to mitigate her losses among white men, performing comparably to Biden within that demographic according to exit polling.

These concerns pushed Harris to target Pittsburgh while largely ignoring the Philadelphia area and its eastern suburbs in her brief campaign.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman stated shortly before the election, as Harris prepared for several appearances in the state, that she recognized the importance of her actions.

“I’m not mansplaining to the vice president,” he said. “It’s her campaign, and she has undoubtedly been dedicating time in Pennsylvania.”

However, Harris overlooked Allentown, which has a significant Hispanic and Puerto Rican population, until just a day before the election. Consequently, she performed worse than Biden, while neighboring counties shifted towards Trump.

Democrats believed they could win over new voters by recalling a recent remark made by a Trump rally speaker about the U.S. territory. Reggaeton artist Nicky Jam had withdrawn his endorsement of Trump.

Yet, upon reviewing the election results, Stephanie Valencia, who advised the Harris campaign on outreach to the Latino community, acknowledged on Wednesday: “That moment of contrast might have come too late.”

Harris faced significant setbacks with Latino men across the board. Nationally, Trump secured 54% of the votes from this demographic, marking a stark contrast to Biden’s previous 59%.

“There is considerable concern regarding Latino voters,” expressed Valencia, co-founder of Equis, which focuses on research and polling related to this group.

The results among Latinos in battleground states did not come as a surprise, reflecting the persistent high economic concerns seen since the beginning of Biden’s presidency, she noted.

Trump’s appeal to the “machismo” culture among Hispanic men was seen as a key element of his increased support from this demographic. He aggressively targeted the “bro vote,” making appearances on Joe Rogan’s and Logan Paul’s podcasts as part of his concluding campaign efforts.

His campaign began actively engaging young Hispanic men back in 2021, early in his election bid, noted Fernand Amandi, who previously polled Latinos for former President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

Trump attended UFC fights and tapped into the gaming community, which are popular among young men, particularly Hispanic men, he explained.

As a result, Trump’s team succeeded in establishing a “cultural kinship” with these voters, Amandi further explained.

Conversations with Black Men in Michigan

Harris was aware before she became the Democratic nominee that support among Black men was declining.

She conducted listening sessions and embarked on a tour focused on promoting entrepreneurship in cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Detroit. In October, she introduced an economic plan specifically for Black men.

However, the campaign made significant errors.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson commented on Wednesday that the campaign did not adequately engage with Black voters. “It seems like there’s an assumption they will vote a specific way without any persuasion,” he stated.

“She entered a situation where everyone was hastily building a campaign around her using outdated methods that have proven ineffective over the years,” Johnson added.

Chris Scott, the vice president’s coalitions director, pointed out a dysfunctional setup where Biden’s and Harris’ campaign teams did not fully integrate. As a result, outreach initiatives aimed at energizing Black male voters experienced delays or were disregarded.

“I honestly believe that the leadership on that side never completely grasped her, and that showed in how tasks were carried out across departments, even after changes were made. The approach remained largely reactive instead of proactive,” Scott explained.

Scott also mentioned that a request for a fact sheet highlighting her Jamaican American heritage was not prioritized. Additionally, the economic agenda for Black men she had been developing was released too late.

There was a palpable “disconnect and lack of respect” for her identity, according to Scott, which many Black staff members sensed.

“Subtle actions were perceived as microaggressions, with questions of why we continue to under-prioritize outreach to Black voters while over-prioritizing efforts to convert Republican voters,” he remarked.

During a visit to a Michigan barbershop two weekends prior to the election, civil rights leader Morial was prepared for honest feedback. The Democrats had failed to sufficiently organize in Black neighborhoods, and it was becoming evident.

Collaborating with the National Urban League’s Civic Engagement Fund, Morial joined forces with Win with Black Men, a group established by former Obama officials to connect with the community. Scott, a native of Detroit, participated as well.

The discussions that occurred addressed a sensitive topic. Black men present mentioned conversations with acquaintances who were reluctant to vote for Harris due to her being a woman.

Obama had previously cautioned Harris’s campaign about this issue when he met with them to discuss outreach to Black voters, a source revealed.

While the percentage of Black men voting for Harris on a national scale matched that of Biden’s four years earlier, she lagged behind Biden by significant margins in key battleground states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina, both of which he lost to Trump.

Harris also narrowly lost Georgia to Trump by about 2 percentage points, witnessing higher voter turnout compared to four years prior for both her and Trump.

Timmaraju commented that the election results indicated a deeper conversation was necessary regarding how the Democratic Party conducts its campaigns.

“We invest the least in our base while directing resources towards engaging independent and white voters,” she stated. “These demographics have consistently disappointed us. As a party, we cannot progress without addressing this reality after 2016 and now once more.”

Harris Faces Setbacks in Michigan’s Arab American Community; Gen Z Participation Falls Short

A year earlier, Harris had a notable moment in Dubai, speaking more candidly than other officials from the Biden administration regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict. While cautious as a candidate, she expressed her support for supplying arms to Israel.

Groups like the Uncommitted Movement chose not to support Harris and instead urged activists to consider third-party candidates.

Outside Harris’ rally in Kalamazoo, numerous pro-Palestinian protesters gathered, holding signs and chanting slogans such as, “Kamala, you can’t hide; you’re committing genocide.”

The occurrence of protests during her events also increased. Initially, her reaction was defensive. Over time, she began acknowledging their concerns, asserting that their voices would matter in the upcoming election.

In Michigan, Harris struggled after Jill Stein attracted nearly 1% of the votes. Trump secured a win in Dearborn, an area with a predominant Arab population.

Following a brief exchange in which Uncommitted leaders interpreted Harris as open to discussing an arms embargo on Israel, her national security adviser Phil Gordon promptly refuted that notion via a tweet.

“She shifted her attention towards figures like Liz and Dick Cheney,” remarked Lexi Zeidan, 32, a co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement. “This left her isolated and created an opportunity for Donald Trump to capitalize on.”

Zeidan, a Detroit resident, believes the election results are telling. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American, dominated her district in Michigan.

During the final stretch, Harris’ rally in East Lansing included a specific outreach to Gen Z, a demographic her campaign attempted to engage through TikTok, memes, and a youthful vibe.

Ultimately, however, enthusiasm alone doesn’t translate into votes.

In a pre-election interview, Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Harris supporter who actively campaigned on college campuses, noted her strong personal investment exceeded that of previous presidential candidates.”

Before being elected, Frost worked with March for Our Lives and became the youngest member of Congress. He acknowledged Harris’s efforts to implement necessary changes on the ground, which helped her regain support from demographics, particularly Black men, where her support had been declining.

“One of the primary things she asked me was about the opinions and thoughts of young people. She seeks this information from all her surrogates because she wants the campaign to remain adaptable,” explained Frost, 27.

A wake-up call for the Democratic Party

King highlighted that if the vice president secured victory, she would take the oath of office on the day honoring her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., for his contributions to the civil rights movement. King stated she couldn’t imagine a scenario where Trump was inaugurated on her father’s birthday.

“If he is inaugurated, that would be a wake-up call,” said King.

Trump won decisively, leading the Democratic Party to enter a period of reflection. Biden had intended to serve as a transitional president, but ultimately, he did so in a way that differed from what Harris and several party members had anticipated.

“This election is the most crucial one of our times, meant to resolve questions about our identity as a country and a people,” Amandi stated on Wednesday. “The outcome extends beyond the actions of the Kamala Harris campaign or even the Democrats’ broader strategies.”

Harris’s term will conclude on the same day Trump’s begins. In her concession on Wednesday, she remarked that the struggle would continue.

However, the nature of her future role is a decision she must make.