I worked on Kamala Harris’ campaign, and that’s why it’s become a total mess

When I volunteered for Kamala Harris in a swing district in New York’s commuter belt a few weeks ago, Democratic Party organizers assured me that their ground game would defeat Donald Trump.

Although the polls showed the two contenders running neck and neck, the confidence was understandable.

After all, this was the party machine that generated more than 81 million votes for Joe Biden last time.

And it was better funded than ever. Nearly a billion dollars had been poured into the party’s coffers since the beginning of 2023, more than twice what Trump had raised in the same period.

When I volunteered for Kamala Harris in a swing district in New York’s commuter belt a few weeks ago, Democratic Party organizers assured me that their ground game would defeat Donald Trump. (Image: Kamala Harris’ campaign poster).

The campaign in New York’s 17th district focused not on Kamala, but on Mondaire Jones, a gay, black former congressman who challenged a pro-Trump incumbent, Mike Lawler, for a seat in the House of Representatives.

Jones had all the charisma that Harris lacked and if he defeated Lawler, there was a good chance that Kamala would get extra votes.

At 37, Jones was made a candidate for Instagram. And since registered Democrats in the district outnumber Republicans by about 80,000, I thought we were doing well.

But what I discovered quickly changed my mind: a self-focused mess of a campaign, staffed by temporary workers with little experience, less know-how, and apparently no interest in talking to Main Street America.

My turf included the prosperous horse country of Westchester County—home to the sprawling estates of high-profile Democrats like Richard Gere and David Letterman—as well as the rugged Hudson River towns like Ossining, where employment is provided by the Sing Sing supermax.

I was assigned to a campaign office in the attractive residential community of Mount Kisco, one of three that Democrats had opened in the district. But it was a disappointing start.

There were only a few scruffy posters on the rather dingy door. Outside, Harris’ trademark “not going back” signs were nowhere to be seen.

A smartly dressed woman walking by told me she thought our headquarters was an abandoned store.

Then I met my new bosses. It’s fair to say that they were young – and that some of them knew little about the area we were exploring.

The campaign in New York’s 17th district focused not on Kamala but on Mondaire Jones (pictured), a gay, black former congressman who challenged a pro-Trump incumbent, Mike Lawler, for a seat in the House of Representatives.

Jones had all the charisma that Harris lacked and if he defeated Lawler (pictured), there was a good chance that Kamala would get extra votes on his jacket tails.

Although there were door knocks from unpaid enthusiasts like me, our work was supervised by temporary workers whom the party hired at rates advertised on a recruitment site starting at $15 an hour.

I counted nine or ten of them wandering around the office.

The next surprise was that I would be using a supposedly state-of-the-art phone app called miniVan.

I was told it collected addresses as I went from house to house. And it would sync the outcome of each approach to the Democratic campaign’s computers in fractions of a second.

Advantage Mondaire and Kamala!

Yet the only names on the list were registered Democrats and – in what was described as the tightest race in recent memory (until the results came out, of course) we weren’t allowed to talk to anyone else.

‘The app provides an overview of registered Democrats in the district. We only approach Democrats,” a temporary worker explained.

In disbelief, I called Mitch Saunders, the Northern Westchester County party organizer, for advice.

“The idea is to get the Democrats on their feet,” he confirmed. “It’s all about attendance.”

What about people like the neighbors at my house in Westchester, who hung a garish Trump banner in the trees?

“No,” Mitch said.

What about the throngs of affluent female shoppers outside the campaign base—the very demographic Democrats were supposedly targeting?

‘No.’

I mentioned that I would like a Kamala-Mondaire yard sign for my roadside home. The Mount Kisco office was out of stock. “You don’t need them,” yawned an unshaven young man. ‘Just use the app.’

But the app couldn’t sync when I went out on November 5.

A few doors were opened by surprised Democrats who had already cast their votes and were fed up with being “harassed” – as they put it – by the non-stop texts and phone calls pestering them for money.

While Republicans emphasized authenticity, we limited ourselves to a verbatim script.

‘Hi! I’m a volunteer with the NY Dems. I just want to confirm that we can count on you to vote for Mondaire Jones…’

The script was continuously adapted. On Election Day, its most striking feature was that it had nothing to say about Mondaire Jones other than his name.

Every now and then I was allowed to treat my victims to the story.

Not that there was room to record their answers, only eight boxes had to be ticked, from ‘strongly support’ to ‘strongly against’.

So much for listening to the voters.

When loyalists responded that they planned to vote for Mondaire Jones and Harris, I read a long paragraph triumphantly announcing, “we expect a REALLY close election with a VERY high turnout…”

Correct on one point anyway.

I was assigned to a campaign office in the attractive residential community of Mount Kisco (pictured), one of three that Democrats had opened in the district. But it was a disappointing start.

This was ostensibly a battle for democracy itself, but attempts at eleventh-hour conversion were forbidden.

If someone told me that he did not support Mondaire or Kamala or that he did not intend to vote, I had to immediately withdraw and politely say, “No worries, have a nice day!”

The atmosphere in the Mount Kisco office was festive until the end. Soft drinks and snacks were piled on the table on election night.

The friendly student overseeing the operation took an early break and explained that she was “flying back home to Canada tomorrow morning.”

Canada. I wasn’t surprised.

Before her plane had taken off, news broke that Lawler defeated Mondaire by a margin comparable to Donald Trump’s defeat of Kamala.

“What an absolute bastard,” Lawler crowed in a victory speech. It was hard to disagree.

I hadn’t spoken to a single Republican in the past two weeks. No independents. But I have to hand it to the Democrats: they are not giving up!

Thursday evening my phone rang with a text from San Francisco, where Nancy Pelosi had overcome the odds and won a landmark 20th term.

‘Please make a contribution!’ it demanded.

“Nancy Pelosi is working incredibly hard to help Democrats hold Trump and Republicans accountable – and ensure they can NEVER hold full power again.”