Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza said on Friday that Democrats would not have nominated Vice President Kamala Harris “in a vacuum,” but they were compelled to because of her race, gender and status as vice president.

Harris is running based on a party insider vote with virtually no primary voter support and has already secured sufficient verbal support from delegates to become the party’s presumptive nominee. Cillizza, on his YouTube Channel, said Democrats would have picked a different nominee if not for the current circumstances of who Harris is and the limited time before the Democratic National Convention following President Joe Biden’s sudden withdrawal from the race.

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Ex-CNN Analyst Says Dems Wouldn’t Have Picked Harris ‘In A Vacuum’ But Had To Because She’s ‘Black Woman’ VP pic.twitter.com/HexCVTQX6b

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 26, 2024

“I think you need to win the Midwest and Pennsylvania to get elected president if you’re a Democrat. And I think Harris is, at best, an even money bet to win those states,” Cillizza said. “I think she probably has as much a chance as pre-debate Biden. So she can win, but it’s no lock … But the realities of the way the Democratic Party works, the vice president of the United States, who is a black woman, is not not going to be the nominee.”

“In a situation like this, in a situation where it’s like the president says he’s not running again, the convention is in a month, they have to pick really fast, she’s going to win,” he continued. “Even if it was an open convention, which it’s not really going to be … she would’ve won anyway. But is she the best candidate in a vacuum if the Democrats could pick anyone with no repercussions? No, she is not.”

Cillizza was responding to a viewer question about whether two rust belt governors would be a better ticket than Harris, asserting the vice president has “limited experience,” a “far-left voting record” and “border crisis baggage.” The former CNN analyst said he largely agreed with the issues the viewer noted and said he thinks Democrats would have nominated Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro over Harris under normal circumstances.

The border crisis could worsen under a Harris administration as her Senate voting record, comments she has made about federal immigration authorities and her actions as vice president suggest a sharp move to the left, border hawks recently told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Progressive Wisconsin voters in an MSNBC segment that aired Thursday voiced their disapproval of the process leading to Harris becoming the de facto Democratic nominee, but they said they intend to vote for her in the November election.

“I think by trying to clear the field and ensure that it was going to be Biden and… not allow us to have an actual democratic primary process — I’m not saying I think Kamala Harris is going to lose, but I do think that we would have been benefited significantly if he had figured this out far sooner so there could have actually been more time to have an internal debate, have internal democracy within the party,” a male voter said.

(Featured image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/ Chris Cillizza)