WASHINGTON—The result of the 2024 presidential election has left many Democrats feeling disappointed. While some voters continue to process the outcome, a blame game has emerged within the Democratic Party.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the former House speaker, broke her silence on the election results in an interview with The New York Times published on Nov. 8.
“We live with what happened. And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.”
Speaking from the Rose Garden at the White House on Nov. 7, Biden pledged a peaceful transition of power to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and urged Americans to “accept the choice.”
Later that day, reporters repeatedly asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if Biden felt any responsibility for the outcome.
Jean-Pierre pushed back against criticisms directed at Biden.
She stated that the COVID-19 pandemic created “global headwinds” that had a “political toll” on many incumbent presidents around the world in 2024.
When the president decided to exit the presidential race, Jean-Pierre said, “he immediately endorsed [Vice President Kamala Harris], and the party unified behind her.”
“And it’s because she was the right person for the job,” she said.
Democratic strategist Theryn Bond argued that the Democrats suffered from poor coordination, “antiquated” messaging, and a lack of clarity regarding their policies and platform.
“I don’t think that President Joe Biden can be blamed for the loss,” Bond told The Epoch Times.
Biden stepping aside earlier would have helped, she said, but only if the campaign infrastructure had already been in place, with a message and a candidate capable of winning over the American public.
Many were disappointed with the election result in the nation’s capital, where Vice President Kamala Harris received more than 92 percent of the vote.
After her defeat, people flocked to the vice president’s residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory, leaving flowers and Post-it notes of support outside her home.
“Thank you for your joy,” one note read.
‘They Are Too Liberal’
In the early hours of Nov. 6, Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election.Harris delivered an emotional concession speech at Howard University later that day.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she told her supporters, urging them to fight for freedom and democracy.
Rockii Wright, a junior at Howard University who attended Harris’s on-campus speech, said she was disappointed with the election results.
She told The Epoch Times that some people at her school were expressing feelings of loss as if someone had passed away.
“That’s how much it meant to them, because this was essentially their only option, their only real hope,” she said.
People saw it as a chance for real change, Wright said. After being so close and then losing it, she said, “it was just like, dang.”
Bill Godsey, who works on campus for the medical school, expressed anger at the election result.
“America told us who they are,” he told The Epoch Times after watching Harris’s remarks. “We’re not a united state, we’re an angry state, and we’re a separated state, and that’s who we are right now. You’ve got to face that in order to make it better.”
A voter originally from Ethiopia, who became a U.S. citizen only a few years ago and who requested anonymity, spoke to The Epoch Times while sipping coffee at a Starbucks near the university. The person said he voted for Biden in 2020, but this time, he chose not to vote for any candidate.
“I don’t have any issue with Harris personally, but as for the Democratic Party, I didn’t want to vote for them,” he said.
The Blame Game
Trump secured a decisive victory in the November election, becoming the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote. Republicans have gained control of the Senate and are on track to take control of the House as well.The loss for Democrats has revealed deep divisions within the left, with notable progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), criticizing the party’s direction.
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said it’s wrong for Democrats to call American voters “sexist and racist.”
Republican strategist Brian Seitchik agreed, saying that Democrats are still in “the finger-pointing phase” instead of soul searching.
“Once they’re out of this phase, I assume they'll take a hard look and see how they failed,” he told The Epoch Times.
According to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Democrats “should be taking positions that are in line with the majority of Americans” instead of pursuing far-left policies like “defund the police.”
“The far left has an outsized microphone and therefore has an outsized impact in shaping the perception of the Democratic Party.”
