After Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed Kamala Harris, it took almost no time for her to secure support from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee. But even delegates in her home state don't believe she's the best candidate and only reluctantly supported her.
The media's narrative was that there was tremendous unity and enthusiasm for Kamala. But the delegates, who presumably know her the best, apparently just held their noses and fell in line.
Related: Democrat Civil War Watch: Endorsing Kamala Was Joe Biden's Revenge on the Democrats
“She’s not our best candidate, but she’s gonna be the candidate," one California Democrat delegate told Politico. The delegate also expressed disappointment that there wasn’t an open process for multiple candidates. “There’s no point in not getting on board.”
The Democratic Party rushed to support the Bay Area native after her boss caved to party pressure and exited the race on Sunday. After Biden’s dismal debate performance last month, Democrats lost confidence he could beat Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump. Hoping to stabilize their party, California delegates unanimously gave their votes to Harris, pushing her over the threshold to win the Democratic nomination. The VP did not earn a single vote cast by the American public.
"This is kind of an ideal situation for her," one Golden State Democrat told Politico. "She got past the primary, she has a united party, [and] she inherited a structure already built for her."
"Partially we just want it to be true so badly because we really really want to beat [Trump]. And we do love her as a person and what she believes," the Democrat added.
California political insiders, Politico reported, are "trying to squelch" their concerns about Harris's "over-cautious instincts, periodic word salads on the stump, and persistent staff upheavals."
Harris ran a failed campaign for president in 2020, ending up in fifth place in California, trailing Bernie Sanders, Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. At the time, more than 60 percent of voters in the state thought it would be better for her to suspend her campaign and return to Congress.
This doesn't sound like a unified party, does it? In fact, there is an active campaign to silence those who doubt her.
Harris always had a base of longtime backers — a band of elected officials, donors, labor leaders and other powerbrokers now eager to tout their loyalty. But she has, for now, silenced the in-state doubters who are deeply familiar with her weaknesses as a candidate.
One Bay Area veteran Democrat said the recent days have been filled with conversations with other political insiders asking, “Do we know too much?” about her over-cautious instincts, periodic word salads on the stump and persistent staff upheavals. Now, they’re trying to squelch their previous Harris skepticism.
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Winning over the Democratic faithful is one thing; winning the public is another. It is too soon to know if California voters as a whole are coalescing around Harris like the party is. If Harris can sustain a broader home state boost, that could reverberate down ballot to the handful of congressional races that could tip the balance of the House.
While they wait to see if Harris’ ascent is more than a temporary sugar high, her allies are savoring it. One supporter noted the satisfaction of watching Pelosi, who, they said with some exaggeration, “never said anything particularly nice” about Harris, appearing at a virtual state party meeting Monday evening to offer the motion that convention delegates back Harris as the nominee.
So much for that whole unity narrative.
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