The Issue: The many factors contributing to Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the presidential race.

I think the Democrats’ loss was caused to a large degree by the way in which Vice President Kamala Harris was installed as the party’s nominee (“Left lost in la-la land,” Nov. 7).

She should have competed in a primary, which would have allowed the public to make the choice.
It seems to me that being chosen by the party makes that candidate beholden to the party, rather than to the public.

This prevents the candidate from deciding her own policies and taking full responsibility, as a leader should. A leader needs to lead, not follow party orders. Otherwise, the public will have no sense who’s in control.

Without the public shut out of the selection, voters have no connection to a candidate. We need a leader to lead and to take responsibility, not a puppet who follows orders.

Matthew Pease

Demarest, NJ

In 2020, roughly 81 million people voted for President Biden. In 2024, around 69 million people voted for Harris, as of this writing.

Where did those nearly 12 million votes go? It wasn’t all to President-elect Donald Trump.

James Foley, Airmont

As the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Harris appeared to take for granted the political support of Arab and Muslim American voters, especially those in the swing state of Michigan.

This is a generally strongly pro-Palestinian demographic that has been sickened by the large-scale slaughter occurring in Palestine over many months now.

Given Harris’ stance, it was doubtful the most adamantly pro-Palestinian and anti-war voters would have compromised their integrity by voting for her on Election Day.

Frank Sterle Jr.

White Rock, Canada

To those liberal geniuses in the media wondering where the Democrats went wrong, please allow me to save you some time.

The same party that tried to cover up Joe Biden’s declining mental acuity also tried to pass off Kamala Harris as the country’s savior.

The fact that they had been trying to convince the American people to vote for someone as incompetent as Biden — the least compos mentis president in American history — is telling.

It is not surprising the Democrats are not contesting the election results. What is surprising is that they found 70 million people to vote for her to begin with.

Don Whitman

Cross River

Basically, Harris ran a terrible campaign. There was never a clear message. She never made a convincing argument on how she was turning the page on the Biden-Harris years and those so-called “accomplishments.”

This loss, like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s in 2016, was driven by the ineptness of the candidate herself: There really is no one else to blame.

Alan Brooks

Brooklyn

Maybe Harris shouldn’t have campaigned with former Wyoming Rep. and never-Trumper Liz Cheney?

Cheney is like a poison. Everyone hates her — Democrats and Republicans alike. I bet Kamala never speaks to her again.

Carol Meltzer

Manhattan

Democrats who want to play the gender card in the aftermath of President-elect Trump’s victory aren’t willing to acknowledge the truth. The issue was not that Kamala Harris was a woman, but that the woman was Kamala Harris.

Joe Zeloof

Hamilton, NJ

Like Clinton, Harris’ campaign was not in vain. She remains a successful politician, and our country should continue to look to her stances on important policies.

Wayne E. Williams

Camden, NJ

The gnashing of teeth by senior Democrats is inappropriate after Tuesday’s loss. If they hadn’t tried to serve up a last-minute replacement and had actually consulted the voting public, things might have turned out differently.

A more apt reaction would be a woeful smile, a gentle clap on each other’s back and the words: “Hey, we might have won if we’d taken this thing seriously.”

Brian Goldenfeld

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

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