Veteran GOP consultant warns party against 'fatal consequences' of 'underestimating' Harris

30 July 2024

Presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has been describing herself as an "underdog" on the campaign trail, while GOP nominee Donald Trump has been bragging that he is ahead in the polls.

A Wall Street Journal national poll released on July 26 shows Trump ahead of Harris by 2 percent. But Fox News polls released the same day show Trump and Harris in a dead heat in two crucial battleground states: Pennsylvania and Michigan.

In an article published by Vanity Fair on July 30, veteran GOP consultant Mark McKinnon — whose past clients included President George W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) — warns fellow Republicans against "underestimating" Harris.

"In politics, as in sports and life, there is enormous power in being underestimated," McKinnon argues. "It can be a kind of superpower. And I have a strong feeling that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have only begun to experience the potentially fatal consequences of underestimating Kamala Harris."

The GOP consultant stresses that Harris is proving to be a much stronger candidate than Trump's allies assumed.

"Many in the GOP leadership believed that they were on the verge of crushing what little political life remained in Joe Biden," McKinnon explains. "Then, as the president dropped out of the race, Trump's campaign strategists appeared to jump to the conclusion that Harris was the second-best thing. In their fever dreams, Harris was seen as a weak candidate who'd had everything in life handed to her on a DEI plate…. But in politics, preconceptions can bite you pretty quickly."

McKinnon continues, "Harris has come out of the box roaring like a lion and is already blowing away expectations in terms of her personality, her performance, her discipline, her poll numbers, and her fundraising."

The conservative consultant argues that while Harris ran a "lackluster" campaign in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, she has been much more focused this time around. And he notes that conservative Wall Street Journalist columnist and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan commented that Harris' 2024 "rollout hinted" that "she may be a real political athlete."

"Those who have lowered expectations of Harris will be in for a jolt," McKinnon warns Republicans. "Such prejudices, by which I mean both prejudgment and inexcusable bias, may well work in her favor. They'll allow her to outperform her opponents and the presuppositions of the pundits — which, in politics, often translates into connection with voters."

Mark McKinnon's full article for Vanity Fair is available at this link.

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