After receiving her party's presidential nomination this summer, Vice President Kamala Harris was touted as the face of a new generation of liberal leaders, but in the wake of her loss to Donald Trump, some on the left believe she is undermining Democrats' future prospects in a serious way.
In particular, fundraising emails from the Harris campaign continue to be sent weeks after the VP conceded the race, and some party insiders believe that their urgent tone may kill the enthusiasm of donors who are already wondering how the more than $1 billion raised for her bid did not ensure success, as Politico reports.
The fundraising communications that continue to reach Democrats have surprised not just in their volume, but also in their arguably desperate approach.
As Politico, noted, one such message read, “Even a quick donation of $50 is enough to help us in this fight. And with only hours left to hit our goal today, NOW is the best time to rush your support.”
“Please do not click away,” another message implored, suggesting that there is a dire need to recoup what reports suggest is the $20 million in debt with which the campaign remains burdened.
However, given that roughly $1.4 billion was raised in support of Harris' push for the White House, many donors are wondering why they should give more, and insiders such as Mike Nellis of Democrat-affiliated fundraising firm Authentic have opined that “stuff like that erodes trust.”
Longtime Democrat James Zogby agreed, saying that the “begging” is “not a good look” and that it stands to reason that party members in large numbers have been left wondering where all the money went and why more is now being sought.
Even more blunt in his criticism of the situation is seasoned Democratic Party strategist James Carville, who believes a spotlight must now be put on the Harris campaign and its potential financial mismanagement, as the Washington Examiner reports.
Carville believes that audits must be conducted to facilitate the sort of transparency needed to regain trusts of donors and voters alike.
During a discussion on Politicon's Politics War Room, Carville addressed a Harris super PAC called Future Forward and said, “I'm telling you, without complete transparency, the campaign -- we think -- raised a billion and a half dollars. Okay, we know that Future Forward, the last we saw, was $900 million, so we can assume that they got to a billion before the election. That's two and a half freaking billion dollars.”
Suggesting that few have “any idea where that money went,” Carville insisted that Democrats should be prepared to “audit everything.”
“We're going to audit the campaign. We're going to audit Future Forward. We're going to audit the DNC so people can know,” he added.
Suspicions that financial misfeasance on the part of the Harris campaign has turned off prospective donors appear at least partially vindicated through recent remarks offered by former Democratic Party mega-donor John Morgan, who says that profligate spending on celebrity appearances, a podcast set, and unnecessarily splashy advertising is disqualifying for any future aspirations the VP may have.
“I think this disqualifies her forever. If you can't run a campaign, you can't run America,” Morgan mused. “The same thing is going to follow Harris for the rest of her career. She cannot be trusted with the money, and the donors are going to be, like, 'Where is this money?'”
