James Carville concedes he was wrong about Kamala Harris' chances: 'It will always be the economy, stupid'
Democratic strategist James Carville conceded in an op-ed on Thursday that he was wrong about the election, after repeatedly predicting Vice President Kamala Harris would win, and that the results boiled down to the economy.
"I thought Kamala Harris would win. I was wrong. While I’m sure we Democrats can argue that the loss wasn’t a landslide or take a little solace in our House performance, the most important thing for us now is to face that we were wrong and take action on the prevailing ‘why,’" Carville wrote.
Carville previously wrote an op-ed for the New York Times headlined, "Three Reasons I’m Certain Kamala Harris Will Win," and said during a pre-election interview on MSNBC that Harris would beat Trump because the now president-elect is "stone a-- nuts."
"We lost for one very simple reason: It was, it is and it always will be the economy, stupid. We have to begin 2025 with that truth as our political north star and not get distracted by anything else," Carville continued, referencing his famous phrase.
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He urged Democrats to win back the economic narrative.
"Mr. Trump, for the first time in his political career, decisively won by seizing a swath of middle-class and low-income voters focused on the economy. Democrats have flat-out lost the economic narrative. The only path to electoral salvation is to take it back," the Democratic strategist continued.
Carville said that Americans thought Democrats were "out to lunch" when it came to the economy and feeling their pain.
He wrote that Democrats needed to stop making Trump the focus of their messaging, and said many didn't care about the president-elect's indictments, or social issues, "if they cannot provide for themselves or their families."
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"This year, the Democratic Party leadership must convene and publish a creative, popular and bold economic agenda and proactively take back our economic turf. Go big, go populist, stick to economic progress — and force them to oppose what they cannot be for. In unison," Carville wrote.
Carville also urged Democrats to use podcasts, influencers and non-traditional media to get their message out, acknowledging a "new media paradigm we now live in."
"To Democratic presidential hopefuls, your auditions for 2028 should be based on two things: 1) How authentic you are on the economy and 2) how well you deliver it on a podcast," he continued. "The road ahead will not be easy, but there are no two roads to choose from. The path forward could not be more certain: We live or die by winning public perception of the economy."
Carville attributed Harris' loss to her failure to differentiate herself from President Biden after the election, and specifically pointed to the VP's interview on "The View."
"I think if this campaign is reducible to one moment, we are in a 65% wrong-track country. The country wants something different. And she’s asked, as is so often the case, in a friendly audience, on 'The View,' 'How would you be different than Biden?' That’s the one question that you exist to answer, alright? That is it. That’s the money question. That's the one you want. That’s the one that everybody wants to know the answer to. And you freeze! You literally freeze and say, ‘Well, I can’t think of anything,’" he said during a podcast interview in November.