Democratic strategist James Carville admitted in an op-ed Thursday that he was wrong about the election, after repeatedly predicting that Vice President Kamala Harris would win and that the results came down to the economy.
“I thought Kamala Harris was going to win. I was wrong. While I’m sure we Democrats can argue that the loss wasn’t overwhelming or take some comfort in our performance in the House, the most important thing for us now is to face it. We were wrong and we take action according to the prevailing ‘why,'” Carville wrote.
Carville previously wrote op-ed for the New York Times titled “Three Reasons I’m Sure Kamala Harris Will Win,” and said during a pre-election interview on MSNBC that Harris would beat Trump because now-President-elect is “rock nuts.”
“We lost for one very simple reason: It was, is and always will be the economy, stupid. We must start 2025 with that truth as our political north star and not be distracted by anything else,” Carville continued, referring to his famous sentence.
KAMALA HARRIS’ WRONG ANSWER TO BIDEN ‘VIEW’ SEEN AS CAMPAIGN TURNING POINT
James Carville admits he was wrong about Vice President Kamala Harris’ election prospects. (Getty Images)
He called on Democrats to reclaim the economic narrative.
“Mr. Trump, for the first time in his political career, won decisively by winning over a portion of middle-class and low-income voters who were focused on the economy. The Democrats have completely lost the economic narrative. The only way to electoral salvation is to get it back,” the Democratic strategist continued. .
Carville said Americans thought Democrats were “out to lunch” when it came to the economy and felt their pain.
He wrote that Democrats need to stop putting Trump at the center of their messaging and said many don’t care about the indictments against the president-elect or social issues, “if they can’t make a living for themselves or their families.”
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James Carville said in an op-ed that Democrats need to shift their focus away from Donald Trump. (MSNBC)
“This year, the leadership of the Democratic Party must convene and announce a creative, popular and bold economic agenda and proactively take back our economic landscape. Be big, be populist, stick to economic progress – and force them to stand up to what they cannot stand for. In unison” , Carville wrote.
Carville also urged Democrats to use podcasts, influencers and non-traditional media to get their message across, acknowledging “the new media paradigm we live in now.”
“For Democratic presidential hopefuls, your 2028 auditions should be based on two things: 1) how authentic you are on the economy and 2) how well you deliver on the podcast,” he continued. “The road ahead will not be easy, but there are no two roads we can choose. The way forward could not be safer: we live or die by winning the public perception of the economy.”
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Carville credited Harris with the loss on her failure to differentiate herself from President Biden after the election, specifically pointing to the vice president’s interview on “The View.”
“I think if this campaign comes down to one moment, we’re 65% in the wrong country. The country wants something different. And she was asked, as is often the case, in a friendly audience, on ‘The View,’ ‘What would you were different from Biden?’ That’s what you want to answer and you literally freeze. Well, I can’t think of anything,’ he said during a podcast interview in November.
