During the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic party failed to provide their constituents with concrete policies and a political candidate of their choosing, costing them this election.
Throughout his term and campaign, President Joe Biden was framed as a “transitional candidate” — a political leader serving as a temporary bridge, focusing on stability over change. Despite this, when it came time to campaign for the 2024 presidential election, Biden threw his hat in the ring, ignoring voters who were expecting a primary to choose their next President.
The narrative was that Biden’s presidency would restore a sense of normalcy post-Trump while paving the way for a new generation of Democratic leadership. This positioning appealed to moderates and independents but left some progressive voters feeling sidelined, as they viewed it as a dismissal of the structural changes they sought.
Continuing this narrative, when it came time for the 2024 election, instead of making space for a new, younger candidate to campaign, Biden insisted on running for reelection. This cost the Democratic party valuable time to host a primary and find a candidate that their constituents wanted to stand behind.
Four months before the election, after multiple public failures on the 2024 campaign trail — most memorably, his disastrous performance during the presidential debate against President-elect Donald Trump — Biden reluctantly left the race. Instead, he and many other Democrats endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency.
With many American voters extremely unhappy with the current presidential administration, Harris did not seem like the solution that Democratic Party voters were looking for. Throughout her time on the campaign trail, Harris maintained the same political stances as the Biden administration with their only redeeming campaign policy being “I am not Donald Trump.”
In fact, despite not being Trump, Harris’s very few policies are almost identical to the president-elect, with both candidates maintaining their support for fracking and taking pro-Israel stances. The Democrats failed to understand that they could not run an eight-year campaign on the idea that they are not Donald Trump, when, during the entire Biden presidency, and since his loss in 2020, President-elect Trump has been growing his voter block tenfolds, resulting in his landslide win.
Biden and Harris’s vocal and unwavering support for Israel alienated progressive and pro-Palestinian voters. Many historically democratic voters spent this entire campaign pleading for President Biden to change his stance on Palestine, however, despite their continued efforts, the administration remained steadfast in their support for Israel.
During a campaign rally in Michigan, a crucial swing state with large Arab and Muslim populations, former United States (US) President Bill Clinton took to the stage and said Israel was forced to kill civilians in Gaza, essentially dismissing the concerns of Palestinian voters in the audience.
In another display of blatant disdain for Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voters during a separate campaign rally in Michigan, Harris was interrupted by a group of pro-Palestine protesters. Instead of hearing out their concerns, Harris spoke over them, emphasizing her only campaign point, “You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
While Harris and Democrats were alienating one of their most loyal voting blocks, simultaneously, President-elect Trump was campaigning for their votes, making promises to Arab and Muslim communities that he plans to end the war in Gaza.
As election day drew closer, Trump targeted groups that felt marginalized by the Democratic party’s current campaign. At a rally in Michigan, Trump was endorsed by multiple prominent Muslim leaders, because as Imam Belal Alzuhairi of the Islamic Center of Detroit says, “We are supporting Donald Trump because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine.”
By neglecting this voter block, the Democrats cost themselves this election. Instead of appealing to the wants of their constituents, the Harris campaign prioritized smear campaigns against third-party candidates like Jill Stein, publishing advertising content comparing a vote for Stein to a vote for Trump. These unfounded attacks proved themselves to be a waste of money and resources that could have better been spent appealing and campaigning to these on-the-fence voters.
While the Harris campaign focused on gaining moderate Republican votes, a group that historically votes Republican, they neglected the far-left and liberal voters that gave them their place in office. Campaign advertisements featuring white women secretly voting for Harris were emblematic of this strategy, alienating loyal voters who felt taken for granted.
Instead of doubling down and rallying support from their core base, the Democrat party’s strategy to appeal to moderate Republicans backfired, costing them the election.
