"The Axios Show": Harris campaign didn't speak to working class, Sanders says
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Sen. Bernie Sanders believes Kamala Harris lost last year's election because she was scared of offending big businesses and corporations, he said in a new interview for "The Axios Show."
- "I think it's very hard to say that Kamala Harris ran a campaign that spoke to the needs of the working class and was prepared to take on corporate greed and the oligarchs," Sanders said.
Why it matters: It's the latest salvo in the fight within the Democratic Party over why Donald Trump won in 2024 and what Democrats should do going forward.
- Harris has said her 107-day campaign fell short because she didn't have enough time to make her case. One of her top aides has argued that Harris ran a "flawless" campaign.
Driving the news: Sanders writes in his new book "Fight Oligarchy" that Harris "ran a campaign designed not to antagonize the business community and the oligarchs."
- "While outspent by Republican billionaires, over 80 Democratic billionaires donated hundreds of millions trying to elect Kamala Harris president" in 2024, he wrote.
- "In my view, their heavy influence on her campaign cost her an election that should have been won."
In his interview with Axios, Sanders seemed surprised that Harris' team might object to that characterization.
- "How would they object to that?," he asked.
- "I'm speaking as somebody who ran all over the country, worked really hard to try to elect the vice president: You had a choice to make, and either you work with people like Mark Cuban, a multibillionaire [who] becomes your spokesman, or you stand up and say, 'You know what? I am prepared to take on big money. I am prepared to stand with the working class.' "
- He said Harris' rhetoric on fighting for the working class was sparse: "I didn't hear, I mean, the things that [Harris] said kind of reluctantly, some of us pushed it very hard."
- A Harris spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Zoom in: Sanders also confirmed Harris' account of a conversation they had after then-President Biden dropped out, in which he urged her to focus on the working class and not just abortion rights.
- "What I said to her is: 'Yeah, let's continue the fight to make sure that women can control their own bodies and abortion rights, but you can't turn your back on the working class of this country, which is what Democrats have done for a long, long time.' "
- In his book, Sanders writes: "Trump, unlike most Democrats, campaigned with the understanding that the current economic system is broken and failing the vast majority of Americans."
Zoom out: Democrats are still fighting about why they lost the election.
- Some believe Trump's victory was because Democrats put up a weak candidate, while others argue it reflected a rot in the Democratic Party.
- Biden's late exit from the race and Harris' short candidacy would have been difficult for any party to overcome, some Democrats argue, noting that Democratic Senate candidates still won in four swing states that Trump carried.
- Others contend that Trump coming back to power after leaving the presidency in disgrace in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol is a signal that Democrats need a more radical revamp.
"The Axios Show" is our series featuring top Axios reporters interviewing newsmakers shaping politics, business, tech, and culture.
