Election results 2024: The real reason Kamala Harris lost.
SlateCOVID took Donald Trump out of the White House—then, four years later, COVID put him back in. Related From Slate What to Take Away From Kamala Harris’ Incredibly Painful Defeat And yet, her limitations as a politician were exposed, just as they were in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. There was some thinking, after the Democrats’ summer-candidate switcheroo, when Harris was riding high, that eschewing a messy primary altogether might be a model for the parties going forward, to the extent they could get away with it. Harris may not have won a full-year primary against the best candidates the Democratic Party had to offer—or she might have, because she could’ve gotten sharper during that process. Democrats will have an open primary with star governors in 2028, and Republicans will nominate someone who won’t have that special something Trump has in activating new voters.