‘She’s A Center-Left Democrat’: David Axelrod Says Harris’ 2020 Far-Left Presidential Run Lacked ‘Authenticity’

Former President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist David Axelrod said on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ far-left 2020 presidential campaign was inauthentic, as she is actually a moderate.

Harris backed many left-wing policies during her 2020 campaign, such as a fracking ban, mandatory federal gun buybacks and the abolition of private health insurance, but the vice president has reversed some of her stances since launching her 2024 campaign. Axelrod, on “Inside 🏛️Politics With Dana Bash,” said Harris’ 2020 campaign failed because she was inauthentic and that her 2024 campaign is more aligned with her true beliefs.

WATCH:

“She wasn’t successful in 2020. And I don’t think she was a very good candidate in 2020. She didn’t make it to 2020, actually. Because this is who she is, I think the way she’s running now. She spent her career as a prosecutor, as an attorney general. I think she’s a center-left Democrat,” Axelrod told host Dana Bash. “I think she has obviously a lot of experience on the issue of crime. In many ways, the themes that you hear here reflect who she is and I don’t think she ran on, you know, she basically shoved a bunch of her life, or her advisors did, away four years ago.”