Introduction:

Kamala Harris stepped onto the podium at her initial 2020 presidential campaign announcement as an instant frontrunner with huge promise. Historic in her candidacy-Black, South Asian, and female-Harris personified America's aspirations toward increased inclusion. By December 2019, though, she had folded her campaign in one of the most high-profile political failures of the election cycle. Now, for 2024, Harris has re-emerged in the presidential race with fresh determination. But have lessons been learned from the mistakes that befell her 2020 campaign, or will the same problems resurface?

Initial Momentum in 2020 and High Expectations:

Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign for 2020 with a lot of pomp and fairytale expectations. Over 20,000 supporters attended the launching in Oakland, making her an early frontrunner who could unite both the progressive and centrist factions of the Democratic Party. Early in the campaign, Harris had high-profile debate performances, most memorably confronting Joe Biden over his legacy on matters of race. For a time, she surged in the polls, and many thought she might emerge as the key primary foil to Biden.

Her unusual background-born to immigrant parents and serving as California's first Black attorney general before being elected to be a U.S. Senator-was considered both a strength and a symbol of the diverse future of American politics. Harris seemed poised to bring together all these factions of the Democratic Party, appealing to the progressive left and the moderate center.

Campaign Mismanagement and Strategic Missteps:

Despite the early momentum, Harris's 2020 campaign soon derailed. Reports of her disorganized campaign became frequent, with some key members of her staff quitting amidst claims of infighting and poor leadership. Lacking direction, Harris struggled to adhere to a firm message or vision that could galvanize Democratic voters.

One of the biggest missteps had to do with healthcare. An early backer of Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All, Harris later temporized with a much more centrist proposal that retained private insurance. That indecision ceded progressive voters who wanted bold reforms without winning over moderates who saw her as too far left. This soon became symbolic of the complete lack of clarity on key issues in her entire campaign. However, one deeper problem with her campaign was not being able to define her candidacy.

A Crowded Field without a Core Constituency:

It was only compounded by Harris' truly crowded field of strong candidates. Progressive stalwarts Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren dominated the left, while Joe Biden held strong in the center, specifically among African American voters-a bloc Harris had banked on winning. Harris was unable to garner the majority support of Black voters, despite her historic candidacy as a Black woman, largely due to Biden's deep connections to the Obama legacy.

Lacking a clear base or core constituency, the Harris campaign never gathered momentum. While she had wide appeal, it was not very deep; smaller numbers of voters were as enthusiastic about her candidacy as about Sanders or Biden. This missing following made it hard for Harris to sustain momentum as the primary season heated up.

Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign started with great promise but quickly faltered due to internal mismanagement, unclear messaging, and a lack of core support. Now, in 2024, she’s back in the race with the experience of a sitting vice president. As she navigates a divided Democratic Party, Harris must overcome the challenges that derailed her previous run, building a stronger, more unified base while addressing key issues like healthcare, economic inequality, and climate change. Can she learn from her past mistakes and succeed this time around?

And as Harris's poll numbers flatlined, so did her fundraising. By the end of 2019, her campaign was running out of money and was forced to scale back operations in key states. In the end, the financial burden became insurmountable, and in December 2019, Harris called a suspension of her campaign citing the insufficiency of resources to keep her campaigns running.

Finances were the proximate cause for her exit, but the underlying causes ran much deeper. Ultimately, she had failed to carve out a clear political identity or build a loyal base that could sustain her in what had already been a competitive race.

2024 Reentry into the Race: Kamala Harris

Fast forward to 2024, Kamala Harris is running for president-again. This time, she comes into the contest with more years of experience under her belt and a higher national profile, the broadly established Democrats backing her. At the same time, she will face much stronger headwinds than ever, both from within her party and an increasingly polarized electorate.

Perhaps the biggest question hanging over her 2024 effort is whether she can overcome the issues that caused her 2020 collapse. For all the advantages of being vice president—a position that usually enhances presidential candidates—she must still overcome the perception that she lacks a clear political vision. And one of the big questions going forward, particularly with issues around healthcare, criminal justice reform, and economic inequality, is whether Harris has learned to articulate a more coherent platform.

Beyond that, since taking office as vice president, her work on the southern border crisis and voting rights has come under scrutiny. Republicans have already seized on perceived weaknesses in an attempt to paint Harris as incompetent and indecisive. On the Democratic side, progressives are still wary of her relative moderation, while centrists may doubt her ability to rally a fractured party.

Can She Build a Core Constituency in 2024?

One of Harris's biggest tasks in 2024 will be to firm up her base. In 2020, she failed to inspire devoted support from any one bloc. As vice president, she has gained traction among Black voters and women-two of the most important Democratic constituencies-but she has much work to do to win over progressives, many of whom are still devoted to Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

How important that might be is helping to energize the traditionally skeptical population of younger voters. Harris will have work to do in figuring out ways to reach a more disparate coalition of voters with clear, bold solutions on some of today's hot-button issues: climate change, economic inequality, and healthcare reform.

What Harris's Presidential Bid Says About the Future of Democratic Politics:

Kamala Harris's 2024 bid for presidency is not all about herself, but it is also about the bigger fights within the Democratic Party. The party was still divided into the progressive and moderate wings over tensions in how to tackle key issues like wealth inequality, healthcare, and climate change. For this divide, Harris is going to have to be brilliant in her navigation if she is ever going to be successful in 2024.

In many ways, Harris's candidacy is going to be a litmus test regarding the future of the Democratic Party. Can it take up a mantle of a leader that represents progressivism and pragmatism? Or will the divisions that have hobbled the party over the last few years continue to stifle its ability to rally around a single candidate?

Conclusion:

Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential run represents a second chance of sorts for the candidate who ran such a lackluster primary in 2020. But as she begins this next act of her career, profound questions persist over how she will overcome the weaknesses from her failed last campaign, present a more inspiring vision of what she could do for the country, and create a coalition of voters behind her.

The lessons of her failed 2020 bid were unmistakable: without a message and a strong base of people to support you, the best candidates can stumble. Now, as Harris seeks to make history again, one question has lingered: will she seize the moment, or will the same dynamic that derailed her 2020 campaign return to trip her up?