Americans chose a convicted felon over a woman of colour for president. How did this happen?
On Tuesday 5 November, Kamala Harris lost the 2024 US presidential election to former President Trump, and with it, a lot of hopes and dreams for the country were dashed. After the realisation hit Harris’ supporters, there was a collective wave of anger, frustration, and disappointment. Harris’ platform promised empowerment for women, minorities, and middle-class voters, leading many to favour her over the racist, misogynistic demagogue that is Donald Trump. So now, one big, resounding question lingers underneath the disappointment: Why did Kamala lose? And the answer is as simple as it is complex.
Did Kamala Harris lose because she is a woman of colour?
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The easiest conclusion to come to considering the racist, sexist and bigoted nature of Donald Trump’s campaign is that Kamala Harris suffered a disadvantage because she is a Black and South Asian woman.
And to some degree, this explanation holds merit: I still remember October 2020, when Harris faced former Vice President Mike Pence during the vice-presidential debates. During the 90-minute affair, Pence strategically dismissed and overtalked the former Attorney General, leading to the viral moments in which Harris responded: “I will not be lectured,” as well as “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” The second became a refrain during the live-televised event and was quickly identified as a microaggression by many Black women, who are subjected to this type of treatment on a daily basis.
“Mr Vice President, I’m speaking,” Harris has said often tonight.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 8, 2020
It would be easy to believe that Harris’ treatment shifted once she was elected to one of the highest offices in the country, or when she became the first mixed-race woman to lead a major presidential ticket. However, this racism laced with misogyny only intensified the closer she was inching towards being elected as probably the most powerful human being on this planet.
Trump purposely mispronounced her name, spread misinformation about her heritage, and deemed the politician weak and unqualified despite the fact that she has served in three different branches of government. Race and gender-based attacks like these were part of the Republican’s campaign strategy throughout the last three months, making it clear that he was betting on the bigotry and biases held by many Conservative and independent Americans.
And yet, it would be overly simplistic and disingenuous to boil Harris’ loss down to these factors.
There are lots of women, some of them ethnic minorities, who have been elected to high offices, despite institutional racism and sexism. In fact, this year the senate saw two Black women getting elected to serve at the same time, something historically unprecedented.
“The Party just needs to nominate a politician, male or female, from a swing state, with a history of overperformance. Not someone from a deep blue area like LA or NYC who mostly just had to beat other Democrats to get where they are,” Atlantic writer Yair Rosenberg noted in reference to the belief that electing women to the highest office of the country doesn’t work because of widespread sexism.
“Obviously misogyny is real! But racism is real, and plenty of racists voted for Obama anyway because they preferred him and his platform to the other guy. It’s both anti-woman and self-defeating to claim women can’t win, just as it was to say a black person couldn’t. The facts don’t back up the assertion.”
Did Kamala Harris lose due to the Israel-Hamas war?
One event that polarised the nation and affected the sentiments of young, Muslim or Arab American voters, specifically, is Israel’s year-long assault on the Gaza strip following a brutal Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. It was expected that the topic would give momentum to Independent candidates, who were proposing a harsher treatment of Israel, potentially taking away votes from the Democratic candidate, who identified as staunchly pro-Israel.
Furthermore, winning the swing state of Michigan seemed to hinge on Harris’ position on the matter, considering that the state has the largest percentage of Arab and Muslim voters in the US. And yet, polls reveal that they still overwhelmingly voted in Harris’ favour, with roughly 61 per cent choosing her over Trump or an Independent candidate, close to Biden’s 63 per cent in 2020. Trump won 30 per cent of voters in this demographic, roughly 5 per cent less than in 2020. Jewish Americans made a similar choice, with 67 per cent preferring Harris to Trump.
It was the Republicans’ gains among Christian conservatives, such as Catholics, Protestants, Mormons and other Christians that propelled him forward, potentially evening dealing him a winning hand.
According to AP VoteCast, Trump may be winning around 30% of Muslim voters. pic.twitter.com/BE3RuI6HVb
— Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) November 6, 2024
And yes, independent candidates were a much larger threat in this election than they were during Biden’s campaign. But still, Drop Site News correspondent Jessica Burbank was quick to point out that there wasn’t a single swing state Harris would’ve won even if every single Independent vote would have gone towards her.
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It needs to be understood that Trump didn’t just win the electoral college like he did in 2016. He also won the popular vote–and by a significant margin. Americans chose him, they wanted him. And it’s not just him, the entire Republican party has been making significant gains, as evidenced by them winning most governor seats, the Senate, and a slim majority in Congress.
@nytopinion Donald Trump will return to the White House. How did he win in such a close election? Times Opinion columnists lay out how he achieved victory. | 🎥 Adam Westbrook and Amanda Su #nytopinion
♬ original sound - New York Times Opinion - New York Times Opinion
This indicates that Democrats lost their appeal to voters; they weren’t just abandoned by Independents but also by parts of their core voter blocks for a myriad of reasons that are yet to be uncovered.
Where does that leave us?
The group that has probably been mourning Kamala Harris’ loss the most is Black and Brown women because they see their losses reflected in it.
It’s exhausting to go through life being belittled, patronised, underestimated, and consistently doubted by both “well-meaning” men and women alike. This demographic works harder than we acknowledge and for far fewer rewards. On election day this was put on display for the whole nation, nay entire planet. Think about it; Harris won the debate, she led the polls, she was strong, controlled, and poised in comparison to his mania and it still wasn’t enough.
Black women aren’t rolling up their sleeves anymore. Get someone else to do it. pic.twitter.com/eprisqss8r
— The Brooke Ashley (@TheBrookeAsh) November 6, 2024
Being overly qualified and experienced yet STILL losing to an underwhelmingly unfit opponent. Welcome to the life of a black woman .
— MONALEO 🎀 (@themonaleo) November 6, 2024
Every Black woman in America empathizes with Kamala right now.
Overwhelming qualified. Still doubted.
— Dimplez 🇳🇬 (@Dimplez) November 6, 2024
This demographic that swarmed to the polls in droves, was the first to rally behind her, and undoubtedly had the most riding on her win, had to contend with the biggest disappointment yesterday.
Black women trying to save this country in every election with little help. Such as life. pic.twitter.com/MbnQ1Y1J7D
— Ayanna P. (@AyannaPrescod) November 6, 2024
Harris’ loss, next to the losses in the Senate and Congress, should be a wakeup call to Democrats to rebuild and find newer and more innovative ways to engage with Americans because whatever they’ve been doing in the past few months very clearly wasn’t working.
