Earl Ofari Hutchinson
[00:00:01.080] – Speaker 1
I’m Earl Ofari Hutchinson and welcome to another edition of the weekly, the Hutchinson Report. All right, the burning question, and it’s been asked many, many ways, what’s next for Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris now after the election loss, much speculation. Many, many people are wondering and pondering where does she go now? As a matter of fact, Harris has said she intends to stay engaged in politics. Well, the question is really several questions.
[00:00:34.740] – Speaker 1
One, what is next? What’s in store? What’s the future? And what does engagement mean? Exactly.
[00:00:42.980] – Speaker 1
All right, let’s look at some options here. One, there’s been some floating, not necessarily by her but by others who are speculating about the future. For Harris, a run for the governorship of California, which is doable, possible. Gavin Newsom, current governor of California, is termed out. So there’s going to be a vacancy, there’s going to be an opening.
[00:01:06.500] – Speaker 1
And obviously she has name identification, deep roots in the states, political ties, very deep, won several offices, as you know, attorney general, senator, district attorney. So it seems like that there a tide would be running in her favor if she went in that direction. She hadn’t said. Others are saying, I have questions about that because it’s going to be a rough and tumble race. But that brings to a larger question, us to a larger question.
[00:01:37.920] – Speaker 1
One pluses and minuses. Number one, let’s deal with the minuses first. Minus number one, the money Harris raised. The Harris campaign raised $1.4 billion, a record amount. There was a lot of criticism and much criticism about how it was spent, the effectiveness of it, who was getting money and who didn’t get money, and essentially a hint that there was incompetence there, certainly mismanagement.
[00:02:09.150] – Speaker 1
That’s number one. The second thing is she lost. And there was an expectation that Harris would not only win but also perhaps win big given the fact that there are obviously more Democratic voters, much more enthusiasm, seemingly much more energy and a new face, a younger face on the scene. Didn’t work out. The third thing is how the campaign was run.
[00:02:33.540] – Speaker 1
Many questions about that. Was it run properly in terms of the focus done on and also very slow. And there was criticism here about giving interviews and then a seeming uncertainty on some policy positions and the willingness or unwillingness in this case, which should be a tragedy, to change positions and switch gears. So for many people that were saying wishy washy, not there, essentially sticking your finger up, seeing which way the political wind is blowing and then changing on positions. Another certainly liability or minus in this case is the fact that you didn’t have a Democratic Party that was totally united behind Harris.
[00:03:22.870] – Speaker 1
Then there’s another one, many black women. They essentially were a driving force behind Harris. Many of them are disillusioned now. Many of them are saying, hey, you know what? We’re burned out with politics.
[00:03:34.120] – Speaker 1
It didn’t work out. Let’s back off. Pluses, name identification well thought of in many circles in the Democratic Party and California. I mean, this is her home state. If she wants to go that route, she wants to go beyond that for political office.
[00:03:51.000] – Speaker 1
Very problematic. And when I say beyond that, some talk even about Harris running, making another presidential run in 2028, bad idea. Bad idea. You had that chance. This is too many negatives now.
[00:04:08.170] – Speaker 1
One, donors. Donors are turned off. They say, we gave a lot of money. We’re not going to do it again to that campaign. So the Democratic Party is going to have to retool.
[00:04:17.480] – Speaker 1
Fresh faces, fresh ideas, fresh bodies, fresh everything. Because let’s face it, Trump in the Trump era and Trumpism is not going away. So to be the competitive Democratic Party is going to have to retool. Whether Harris will be part of that retooling, quite frankly, is problematic. A deep cloud then certainly hangs over Harris political future.
[00:04:43.880] – Speaker 1
You’ve been listening to another edition of the Hutchinson Report. I’m Earl Ofari Hutchinson.