William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the USA, was the final commander in chief born a British topic and the primary member of the Whig Get together to win the White Home. He delivered the longest inaugural deal with in historical past, almost two hours, and had the shortest presidency, being the primary sitting president to die in workplace, simply 31 days into his time period.
Oh, there’s another little bit of trivia concerning the man who gave us the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” Harrison was the final politician to lose his first presidential election after which win the subsequent one (Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson managed that earlier than him). Richard Nixon misplaced solely to win approach down the highway. (Grover Cleveland and Trump are the one two to win, lose after which win once more.)
Everybody else since Harrison’s period who misplaced on the primary try to ran once more within the subsequent election misplaced once more. Democrat Adlai Stevenson and Republican Thomas Dewey ran twice and misplaced twice. Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan every ran 3 times in a row and misplaced (Clay ran on three totally different get together tickets). Voters, it appears, don’t like losers.
These are usually not encouraging outcomes for Kamala Harris, who introduced final week she won’t be operating for governor in California, sparking hypothesis that she desires one other go on the White Home.
However historical past isn’t what she ought to fear about. It’s the right here and now. The Democratic Get together is wildly unpopular. It’s web favorability ( 30 factors) is sort of triple the GOP’s (11 factors). The Democratic Get together is extra unpopular than any time within the final 35 years. When Donald Trump’s unpopularity with Democrats ought to be having the alternative impact, 63% of People have an unfavorable view of the get together.
Why? As a result of Democrats are mad at their very own get together — each for shedding to Trump and for failing to offer a lot of an impediment to him now that he’s in workplace. As my Dispatch colleague Nick Cattogio places it, “Even Democrats have discovered to hate Democrats.”
It’s not all Harris’ fault. Certainly, the lion’s share of the blame goes to Joe Biden and the coterie of enablers who inspired him to run once more.
Harris’ dilemma is that she symbolizes Democratic discontent with the get together. That discontent isn’t monolithic. For progressives, the objection is that Democrats aren’t preventing arduous sufficient. For the extra centrist wing of the get together, the issue is the Democrats are preventing for the improper issues, having lurched too far left on tradition battle and id politics. Uniting each factions is visceral need to win. That’s awkward for a politician greatest recognized for shedding.
Virtually the one cause Harris was positioned to be the nominee in 2024 was that she was a range choose. Biden was specific that he would choose a girl and, later, an African American operating mate. And the identical dynamic made it unattainable to sideline her when Biden withdrew.
In fact, most Democrats don’t see her race and gender as an issue, and within the summary they shouldn’t. Certainly, each VP choose is a range choose, together with the white guys. Operating mates are chosen to attraction to some a part of a coalition.
So Harris’ downside isn’t her race or intercourse; it’s her incapacity to attraction to voters in a approach that expands the Democratic coalition. For Democrats to win, they want somebody who can flip Trump voters. She didn’t lose due to low Democratic turnout, she misplaced as a result of she’s uncompelling to a altering voters.
Her gauzy, typically gaseous, rhetoric made her sound like a dean of scholars at a small liberal arts faculty. Except for reproductive rights, her convictions seemed like they have been crafted by focus teams, at a time when voters craved authenticity. Worse, Harris acquiesced to Biden’s insistence she not distance herself from him.
Such clubby deference to the institution mixed with boilerplate pandering to progressive constituencies — discovered from years of San Francisco and California politics — makes her the right answer to an issue that doesn’t exist.
Her selection to seem on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Present” for her first interview since leaving workplace was telling. CBS lately introduced it was terminating each Colbert and the present, insisting it was purely a enterprise resolution. However the cause for the published community’s resolution stemmed partly from the truth that Colbert narrow-casts his costly present to a really small, very anti-Trump slice of the voters.
“I don’t need to return into the system. I believe it’s damaged,” Harris lamented to Colbert, decrying the “naïve” and “feckless” lack of “management” and the “capitulation” of those that “contemplate themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy.”
That’s all catnip to Colbert’s ideologically dedicated viewers. However that’s not the viewers Democrats have to win. And that’s why, if Democrats nominate her once more, she’ll in all probability go down in historical past as a solution to a trivia query. And it gained’t be “Who was the forty eighth president of the USA?”
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Concepts expressed within the piece
- The Democratic Get together faces historic unpopularity, with a web favorability 30 factors decrease than Republicans, pushed by widespread dissatisfaction amongst its personal base over losses to Trump and perceived ineffectiveness in opposing his insurance policies[1].
- Kamala Harris’ political challenges stem from inner Democratic factions: progressives blame her for inadequate struggle whereas centrists view her as emblematic of leftward shifts on cultural points, each detractors united by a need to win[1].
- Harris’s VP choice was considered as a diversity-driven symbolic gesture by Biden, limiting her capacity to construct broader attraction past conventional Democratic coalitions, as seen in her 2024 loss[1].
- Her communication model is criticized as overly generic and focus-group-driven, missing authenticity required to draw Trump voters, whereas her ties to Biden and reluctance to distance herself from his management are seen as electoral liabilities[1].
- Historic precedents counsel candidates who lose as soon as not often regain viability in subsequent elections, with Harris’ potential 2028 bid considered skeptically in gentle of this sample[1].
- Democratic messaging below Harris dangers pandering to area of interest progressive audiences (e.g., her Colbert interview attraction) reasonably than increasing outreach to swing voters, exacerbating perceptions of elitism[1].
Totally different views on the subject
- Harris stays a powerful potential front-runner within the 2026 California governor’s race, with analysts noting her viability regardless of a crowded subject and lingering questions on Biden’s well being influencing her decision-making[1].
- The Democratic Get together is actively reassessing its technique post-2024, specializing in reconnecting with working-class voters and addressing core points like affordability and homelessness, suggesting a shift towards pragmatic problem-solving[1].
- Harris’ announcement to forgo the governor’s race has been interpreted as positioning for a 2028 presidential bid, reflecting her capacity to navigate political calculations with long-term ambition[2].
- Inner criticisms, similar to Antonio Villaraigosa’s demand for transparency on Biden’s well being, mirror broader get together debates about management accountability reasonably than a rejection of Harris’ Senate or VP legacy[1].
- Different rising Democratic voices, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gov. Tim Walz, embody alternate options to Harris’ messaging, indicating the get together’s capability to diversify management past established figures[2].
