How Kamala Harris' failed 2024 presidential bid reflects her poor 2020 campaign

Harris' failed second presidential bid reflects aspects of his first campaign in 2019, proving that he is short-term and not focused on the core issues that matter to American voters, experts say.

“They both started with a lot of promise,” Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former top official in the George W. Bush administration, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“There's a sense that he's the savior of the new flavor, the next generation of Democrats, and both brands have failed spectacularly,” he said.

HARRIS IS NOW THE SECOND DEM WHO HAS BEEN DEFEATED BY TRUMP NOT TO SPEAK TO SUPPORTERS ON ELECTION NIGHT.

In December 2019, then-Sen. Harris dropped his bid for president 11 months after entering the race, citing a lack of campaign funds and poor turnout. It wasn't long before the staff exposed the chaos in his campaign.

But before he became one of the most prominent front-runners among the Democratic contenders, Harris' campaign got off to a great start, marked by his powerful introduction that drew a large crowd in Oakland, California. He was initially considered a top candidate.

However, as the campaign progressed, his campaign messages became less clear and he faced tough opposition from then-candidates Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders.

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Vice President Harris delivers his acceptance speech at Howard University in Washington, DC, on Nov. 6, 2024. (Fox News/Caroline McKee)

“Both [campaigns] he faced two similar things. No. 1 his inability to communicate a simple idea to the American people. And it's not because he can't do it mentally, it's because he's in the box,” Troy said of Harris.

“You're trapped,” he added. “On the one hand, his tendency and his voters are on the left, and on the other hand, he wants to win the national election, and appeal to the people in the national election, he should abandon the policies that have risen. He married all his life.”

But doing that, Troy said, would cost his happy progressive donors.

Harris became the Democratic front-runner after President Biden suspended his re-election bid in July amid reports of mental decline after a poor debate against former Republican President Trump in June. Biden quickly endorsed Harris, who made “reproductive rights” a top issue in the campaign, a strategy that won't win enough state voters. Harris had been the Democratic nominee for only about four months.

“I don't think voters felt that abortion rights were at risk,” one GOP strategist told Fox News Digital. “They overwhelmingly agreed that the voters should decide, which was President Trump's message that it should be sent to the states for the voters to decide.”

“I think our biggest strength was Kamala's words that she had many proposals for the liberal policy of San Francisco, all of which were explained by her to the cameras during the 2020 campaign and we were able to use them successfully and target them in districts where people have negative views of them,” said the Republican expert.

And voters may have wanted more from Harris when it came to the economy and the border. Preliminary data from the Fox News Voter Analysis, a survey of more than 110,000 voters across the country, provides an early look at the state of voters as they vote.

Voters say the economy is far and away the top issue facing the country, followed by immigration and abortion. As a measure of inflation, almost three times as many voters feel they are falling behind financially than those who feel they are ahead.

DEMOCRAT ADAM SCHIFF WINS DIANNE FEINSTEIN'S SIGNATURE SEAT

Supporters react to early election results during an overnight rally for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at Howard University in Washington, DC, on Nov. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Daniel Cole)

Harris also faced the challenge of separating himself from Biden but ran a campaign that was “tactfully run,” according to Mustafa Rashed, a Democratic Alliance strategist based in Philadelphia.

“It's going to be hard to distance yourself from the sitting president; he couldn't use him as a replacement because he wasn't just a replacement,” Rashed told Fox News Digital. “He's not good at campaigning, and he's not popular enough to outweigh the disadvantages of having him as your partner.”

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Harris endorsed Trump by phone Wednesday morning after receiving a majority of the electoral votes overnight. He gave his acceptance speech later in the day at his alma mater, Howard University.

“The result of this election is not what we hoped for, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” said Harris. “But hear me when I say … the light of America's promise will always burn as long as we don't give up and as long as we keep fighting.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital election site.

Fox News Digital's Polling Unit contributed to this report.