Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) did not sway crucial big-money donors with her latest debate performance Thursday, according to a report from CNBC, prompting speculation that her departure from the 2020 race may be imminent.
Harris has polled at around 7% through August, standing at fourth among a field of over 20 candidates. Big money donors said Harris needed to score some points in Thursday’s debate, but didn’t think she managed to do so, according to sources close to her campaign.
It is unclear how much longer she can remain a candidate without an influx of high-dollar donations. Harris has raised $24 million since entering the race in January, with a majority of that coming from individual contributions of significant size.
“I don’t think anything has changed, and it’s been grim,” one source said. Donors still see Harris as “unclear about her message and strategy.” The “Trump focus” was a positive, the source said, “but there was too much odd laughter and canned lines.”
Facing calls to exit race
William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection was among those echoing these doubts, calling on Harris to drop out of the race in the wake of the last debate. He said her performance proved “beyond a reasonable doubt that there’s no there, there.”
Her jabs at Trump sounded childish and petty, Jacobson thought. Her jokes fell flat, and she essentially told Joe Biden she would violate the Constitution to accomplish her agenda when he informed her that it would be an impediment her plans, particularly in the area of gun control.
“Kamala Harris proved me wrong — I’ve viewed her as someone whose intellect is a mile wide and an inch deep,” Jacobson wrote. “I’d like to revise that assessment — her intellect is a mile wide and half-an-inch deep.”
Wealthy prospective donors who were looking for Harris to have a breakout moment in the debate were disappointed to discover that she didn’t. One Los Angeles Democrat campaign bundler opined that Harris played it too safe and that her campaign was becoming “directionless.”
Projecting confidence
Harris showed no sign of having money difficulties in her post-debate email to supporters on Friday, however, even going so far as to claim that she gained momentum because of her debate performance.
She boasted of having “won over a lot of new supporters in this fight” and said that the organization is “focusing our resources on capturing last night’s momentum.” Still, it’s not uncommon to feign confidence right up until the moment a candidate announces their exit from the race.
It seems that Harris may simply have peaked too soon, coming out strong in the first debate but ultimately failing to capitalize on that performance in subsequent outings.
Democrats who didn’t want to have to vote for an old white guy again may be out of luck in 2020.
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