Milbank Points to Racism Backlash in Harris Loss

A Washington, D.C. reporter argues that a “backlash against a Black woman” was a major factor in Kamala Harris losing the 2024 election to Donald Trump, while a Democratic National Committee autopsy cites misinformation, candidate weaknesses, and the handling

For Dana Milbank, the explanation for Kamala Harris’s loss in 2024 doesn’t require much detour. On ABC’s This Week. he said the outcome came down to forces that were hard to ignore: the economic pressure of inflation. the damage he attributed to President Joe Biden staying in the race too long. and what he described as “the backlash against a Black woman being the Democratic nominee.”.

Milbank framed it as a blend of familiar political math and a specific social reality. He pointed to why incumbent parties “all around the world” lost at that time—then connected that to the Democratic ticket itself. In his telling, it wasn’t simply that Harris was Black, or that she was a woman. It was the combo, and the inability—at least for that moment—to overcome it.

He acknowledged the record cuts against the simplest version of that claim: Harris being Black did not prevent Americans from electing her vice president alongside ex-President Joe Biden in 2020. and Barack Obama being Black did not stop Obama from winning the 2008 and 2012 elections. Still, Milbank said the public apparently found something harder to cross when Harris was both Black and a woman.

The discussion came as the Democratic National Committee’s autopsy on the 24 race moved through the news cycle after being released a few days earlier. The report lays out several reasons the DNC believes Harris lost to President Donald Trump.

At the center of the DNC’s diagnosis was a theme of vulnerability in the face of information warfare. The report said that “in the face of misinformation and disinformation. ” Democratic candidates proved unable to project “strength. unity. and leadership. ” which it said helped push voters away. It also argued that “many of our critical Democratic wins can be attributed to negative partisanship. ” pointing to Republicans nominating “deeply flawed candidates.”.

The autopsy also zeroed in on a specific Biden-era decision that. in its view. put Harris in a trap she couldn’t fully escape. It said Biden assigned the vice president “a brief including immigration. ” and that Republicans framed the role as the “border czar.” The report stressed that “It was not the official title. ” but added that the media propagated the label and that “the White House failed to contradict or correct.”.

Milbank’s comments landed alongside another question voters may not have stopped asking since the 2024 election ends: whether the Democratic party will move faster toward another Harris-era possibility. The piece of momentum he pointed to wasn’t coming from an official timeline or a party vote. It was a snapshot from a new Rasmussen poll showing Harris with a lead over other liberal contenders for the 2028 Democratic nomination.

In the Rasmussen poll dated 5/18-20, Harris received 34% (listed as “=”). California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had 12% (down 8), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had 11% (up 4). Pete Buttigieg was at 10%, Josh Shapiro at 9%, Mark Kelly and Andy Beshear were at 9% and 4% respectively, and J.B. Pritzker was at 2%.

The takeaway—across both Milbank’s argument and the DNC autopsy—is that the loss is being pulled apart into competing layers: one focused on social backlash. another on campaign effectiveness under pressure. and still another on how immigration branding became a vulnerability. For Democrats, the stakes of that breakdown aren’t theoretical. They are about what the party believes went wrong last time—and whether it can prevent the same failures from repeating when the next nomination battle arrives.

Kamala Harris Donald Trump 2024 election DNC autopsy Dana Milbank backlash against a Black woman misinformation immigration border czar Rasmussen poll 2028 Democratic primary