Kamala Harris is leaving the 2020 race, concluding a once-promising presidential campaign that sputtered amid disorganization and infighting. The California senator announced her exit Tuesday after a Monday conversation with her family and senior aides, and after informing staffers in a phone call. “It is with deep regret—but also deep gratitude—that I am suspending my campaign today,” she wrote in an email to supporters. “It has been the honor of my life to be your candidate.”
Harris officially entered the race in January with a massive rally in her home state of California, earning comparisons to Barack Obama and speculation that she could emerge as a front-runner in the crowded field. With a strong debate performance over the summer, in which she jabbed at Joe Biden's record on race, she put both her fellow Democratic contenders and potential Republican foes on notice. (“Kamala Harris is the candidate I most want to see debate Donald Trump became a popular refrain.)
But Harris failed to capitalize on the momentum, falling from the top and second tier of candidates to the low single digits in more recent polls—a reflection of her campaign’s unfocused messaging and disorganization among staff. In November she closed her New Hampshire offices and fired her staff there, betting the house on Iowa. But things were reportedly even worse behind the scenes. As the New York Times reported last week, Harris’s struggling campaign was beset by internal divisions and a power struggle between campaign manager Juan Rodriguez and campaign chairman Maya Harris, the candidate’s sister. “This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” wrote state operations director Kelly Mehlenbacher in a resignation letter obtained by the Times. “With less than 90 days until Iowa we still do not have a real plan to win.”
Harris attempted to refocus her campaign several times, all to no avail. Her poll numbers declined, as did her fundraising, leaving her campaign strapped for cash and circling the drain. That dwindling resources finally forced her to close up shop was not entirely unexpected but was still stunning given her high profile as a U.S. senator and the promise her candidacy once held. She was seen as head and shoulders above, say, Steve Bullock, the Montana governor who dropped out this week, and even Michael Bennet, whose campaign continues to spew press releases.
In a statement to supporters, Harris expressed disappointment but vowed to continue fighting for progress and to “defeat Donald Trump.” “I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about,” she wrote. “Justice for the People. All the people.”
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