The Merriam-Webster definition of the word awkward is “having or showing a lack of grace, skill, or ease.” And given what we’ve witnessed from potential 2028 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over the years, and especially in recent weeks ahead of the midterm elections on the campaign trail, the former vice president’s photo really should be next to “awkward” in the dictionary.
“Never let somebody else’s limited ability to see your capacity be a limitation on your ambition. That’s their limitation. That’s not our limitation. That’s their limitation!” she recently exclaimed at a rally in Mississippi to almost no applause from the attendees.
That word salad was reminiscent of the time when Jeb Bush, back during the 2016 campaign, asked his audience to “please clap” after what should have been an applause line. The clap plea would go viral and help underscore Jeb’s reputation as an uninspiring candidate.
Harris has often made speeches like this. Perhaps the most famous example came back in 2023 during a speech in Louisiana talking about high-speed internet.
“The governor and I and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time. Right? The significance of the passage of time,” she said in what appeared to be an extemporaneous moment.
‘”So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs,” she explained. “And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children and what that means to the future of our nation.”
Where exactly these incoherent screeds come from is anyone’s guess. And it’s not just the content but also the delivery. Harris often comes across as a teacher trying to explain a life lesson to her students. And it’s this horrific public speaking trait that may very well explain why she lost every swing state and the popular vote to President Donald Trump despite having an overwhelming cash advantage and an activist media that did everything in its power to get her elected.
Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Gavin Newsom (AP photos)
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Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Gavin Newsom (AP photos)
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A collage of former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). (AP)
Despite all of this, Harris still comes out on top of a New York Times/Siena poll of Democratic voters asking who their preference is to be the 2028 presidential party nominee.
According to the survey, Harris receives 12% of the vote, while Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) comes in at 9%, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is at 7%, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) comes in fourth place at 6%.
But here’s where it gets interesting and even comical: Beating all of these candidates is “another candidate” at 15% and “don’t know” at 45%.
As it stands in late October 2026, this much is clear: The current field is deeply flawed and, in the eyes of 60% of its own party, unelectable.
Harris is unelectable for the reasons we already laid out. She’s also forever attached to the Joe Biden brand as his vice president, and that ain’t good. If she runs again and gets the nomination, Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be the 48th president. That’s guaranteed.
Then there’s Newsom.
The California governor has seemingly been running for president for years without announcing his intention, but he has the same issue as Harris: The more he speaks, the more voters are repelled by him.
The reason? He’s the ultimate panderer. And patently phony.
Take this declaration from an interview at a forum with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, where Newsom shared his inability to read and relatively low SAT scores as a means of connecting with black voters.
“I’m not trying to impress you,” he said, looking directly at those in attendance. “I’m just trying to impress upon you: I’m like you. I’m no better than you. You know, I’m a 960 SAT guy. I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be in.”
Oof.
And then there’s Newsom’s record in California. Almost no homes have been rebuilt in the Palisades or Malibu since the worst wildfires in state history burned down or badly damaged nearly 20,000 homes almost two years ago. The state’s preparedness was objectively awful, with many reservoirs designed specifically for fighting fires empty. Newsom also failed to clear forest areas to prevent the fires from spreading so quickly despite having years to do so.
The Golden State also ranks No. 1 in income tax rate, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, and gas prices. “Make America California” isn’t a winning bumper sticker.
What about Buttigieg?
The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor also has the same problem as Harris: He’s part of the Biden brand, which is not unlike being attached to the Enron brand 25 years ago.
Buttigieg, as you may have heard, is gay. In my world, that falls under the “Who cares?” department, but according to Harris’s book about her 2024 campaign, 107 Days, his sexual orientation was ultimately the reason why the cartoonish Tim Walz was chosen over him.
“[Buttigieg] would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man,” Harris strangely wrote. “But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”
And if that doesn’t sum up how the Democratic Party sees everything through race, color, sexual orientation, and checking off boxes as if voters solely base their decisions on such things, it’s hard to imagine what does.
Nevertheless, it’s not Buttigieg’s orientation that ultimately will sink him – it’s his authenticity problem. He comes across in interviews as if he were created in an AI lab. And because appearance does matter to a certain extent, the fact that Buttigieg looks like he’s running for student council president isn’t helpful.
That brings us to Ocasio-Cortez. Simply put, the 37-year-old does not remotely have the maturity for the highest office in the land.
Here’s why: When taking away all of the hype and snarky Instagram videos, we’re left with all foam and no beer.
This is the same person who predicted the world would end in 2031 due to climate change. She still opposes fossil fuels, fracking, and coal, which takes winning the key swing state of Pennsylvania off the board. She will continue to push for electric vehicle mandates, which means losing the support of the United Auto Workers in Michigan. And as we’ve seen in every presidential election in the modern era, as Pennsylvania and Michigan go, so does Wisconsin. As for Arizona, voters won’t take too kindly to her calls to abolish ICE and grant all illegal immigrants in the country mass amnesty, either.
If Ocasio-Cortez loses those states, she can’t win. Other swing states such as Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina, all won by Trump in 2024, would also be tough sells because swing voters there likely won’t embrace the candidate who screams about climate change, only to fly on private jets to her “Fight the Oligarchy” rallies.
In the end, there’s a big reason most swing-state Democrats told Ocasio-Cortez not to campaign in their races: She’s too toxic, too radical, and simply too unlikable to be anything but a net-negative.
“I don’t support the rights of trans people just to protect my own rights, but I support the rights of trans women because I’m a girl’s girl,” she recently said at an event for Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson.
This stuff won’t fly in a general election. The 2024 race told us that loud and clear.
Fifteen percent of Democratic voters want “someone else” as their candidate. Forty-five percent of Democrats “don’t know.”
In a related story, Vance and Rubio dominate the Republican field, grabbing a combined 56% of the vote regarding who Republicans want to be their nominee. Their closest eligible competitor, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), clocks in at 3%.
If this stands, Republicans will decide on a nominee quickly, since Vance and Rubio have said they will not run against each other. Regardless of whether it’s Vance or Rubio who steps forward, they’ll have the nomination wrapped up before the race even begins with Trump’s blessing.
2028 DEMOCRATIC CONTENDERS TO MEET FOLLOWING MIDTERM ELECTIONS TO DISCUSS DIRECTION OF PARTY
But Democrats will likely see the longest nomination process in its history. The party’s civil war between the socialist and nonsocialist wings could push the nomination all the way to the Democratic National Convention and expend precious funds in the process. And whoever emerges as the nominee will be greatly bruised politically for the effort.
It’s only October 2026. But after the midterm elections, the 2028 race unofficially begins. As it stands now, the blue team is in trouble. Big trouble.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
