Washington - US Senator Kamala Harris
ended her 2020 presidential bid on Tuesday, abandoning a
campaign that began with promise for a rising Democratic Party
star but faltered as she struggled to raise money and make a
compelling case for her candidacy.
Harris, 55, would have been the first woman and second black
US president if elected next November. But her wavering views
on how to solve the nation's healthcare problems and whether to
embrace her past as a prosecutor were among the missteps that
dragged down the campaign after its glitzy launch in January.
Her candidacy ultimately failed to resonate with
African-American voters in the important early voting states of
South Carolina and Nevada, and she polled poorly even in her
home state of California.
Harris' abrupt departure further narrows the field of White
House contenders two months before voting begins in Iowa, the
first nominating contest. It underscores the difficulties of
competing in a contest that once numbered more than two dozen
Democratic candidates seeking the party's nod to run against
Republican President Donald Trump.
"My campaign for president simply doesn't have the financial
resources we need to continue," Harris said in an email to
supporters on Tuesday.
"I'm not a billionaire," she added in a swipe at wealthy
businessmen Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, who are funding
their own long-shot campaigns. "And as the campaign has gone on,
it's become harder and harder to raise the money we need to
compete."
Harris' withdrawal marked a sharp comedown for a candidate
once portrayed as "the female Obama," a nod to the first black
US president who remains hugely popular with Democratic
voters.
To my supporters, it is with deep regret—but also with deep gratitude—that I am suspending my campaign today.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 3, 2019
But I want to be clear with you: I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about. Justice for the People. All the people.https://t.co/92Hk7DHHbR
Harris, a first-term senator for California and the state's
former attorney general, was considered a top-tier contender
when she launched her quest for the presidency with a rally in
Oakland that drew 20,000 people.
Her political advisers, including one of California's most
powerful consulting firms as well as veterans from Hillary
Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, quickly arranged national
television appearances, and her questioning of Trump
administration appointees in US Senate hearings cemented her
image as smart and tough.
Harris posted her strongest showing in the Reuters/Ipsos
public opinion poll after the first Democratic debate in June,
during which she briefly shifted the conversation to race
relations with a sharp critique of former Vice President Joe
Biden's record on racial integration in the 1970s.
But Harris could not maintain the momentum and was eclipsed
by rivals in fundraising.
Her support among Democrats and independents nationally
slipped from 10% in a June 28-July 2 poll to 2% in the latest
Reuters/Ipsos poll that ran Nov. 20-22, falling from the third
most popular candidate to sixth in that span.
She finished September with $9 million in cash, less than
half of the nearly $26 million rival Massachusetts Senator
Elizabeth Warren had on hand, according to campaign finance
disclosures.
As Harris' campaign was plagued with internal rivalries and
public complaints by former staffers that her staff was being
treated poorly, the candidate herself struggled to define who
she was and why she would make a good president.
"She just hasn't quite satisfactorily answered the ‘what
makes you better than the other candidates' question,'" said a
longtime aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Gil Duran, a former adviser who is now the opinion editor of
the Sacramento Bee newspaper, said Harris was used to a
California style of campaigning, where Democrats are elected
fairly easily and splashy campaign events and slogans can carry
the day.
"There's not really a deep bench here," Duran said. "She can
kind of stand higher than everybody else and get by on scripted
politics and buzzwords. But once you are on the national stage
it becomes a lot more aggressive."
Trying to straddle the divide between Democrats' progressive
and moderate wings, Harris instead failed to find her own
identity, said Joel Payne, an African-American strategist who
worked for Clinton in 2016.
"I think she probably ended up alienating both" camps, he
said.
Payne said Harris exited the race before potentially
embarrassing losses in upcoming caucuses and state nominating
contests. The timing will help preserve her political future and
leave open the possibility that the eventual nominee will choose
her as the vice presidential candidate.
Biden did not answer when asked at a campaign event in Iowa
on Tuesday if he would consider Harris as his No 2 should he
become the Democratic nominee.
"She is really a solid, solid person, and loaded with
talent,” he told reporters. “But I'm sure she's not dropping out
of wanting to make the changes she cares about."
Harris had qualified for the party's next debate on Dec. 19
in Los Angeles. Other minority candidates still in the race have
not yet met the polling and donor thresholds, meaning the stage
could feature an all-white line-up after what was once the most
diverse group of candidates in history.