Screenshot via Politicon
Democratic strategist James Carville admitted he was a bit off in his calculations when he declared he was “certain” former Vice President Kamala Harris would win the 2024 presidential election.
“The polls looked even, alright? I thought that Harris had more money. She also had more storefront locations, she had more doorknockers, definitely had better surrogates with two ex-presidents out there. Trump was going around with Scott Baio or something,” Carville told Fox News Digital about his prediction.
The former advisor to former President Bill Clinton wrote a New York Times op-ed in late October 2024 in which he said he was “certain” Harris would win. Carville’s three reasons at the time were that Trump is an “electoral loser,” Harris had more money, and “it’s just a feeling.”
“I thought a combination of all of that would be worth a point and a half. It was not,” Carville said.
He theorized that Harris ultimately didn’t give people enough “reason” to support her, and he called her out for flubbing a question on The View where she was asked what she would do “differently” from then-President Joe Biden and she ultimately didn’t offer anything.
“She completely flubs it,” Carville said about the moment.
Carville did not discourage Harris from running again, but said she’d need to do far better than she did in 2024. Carville has been highly critical of Harris’s campaign and has even referred to her as a “seventh string quarterback,” arguing Democrats should have looked harder for someone to replace Biden in the race.
Carville admitted he was “wrong” about Harris and the prediction was a “mistake.”
“The public will never care if you’re wrong,” he said. “When they’ll turn on you is when you’re boring or predictable. That’s what they don’t like.”
