Kamala Harris, who could have been the first black woman president, dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday. Harris simply did not have the poll numbers to continue, and also admitted that she lacked the financial backing to see her campaign through.
While other Democratic candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been pushing their more progressive leftist policies, Harris ran on a moderate platform that emphasized more incremental and, in her view, realistic change. While both Warren and Sanders talk about pressing issues that most moderate Democrats eschew, such as fully forgiving student debt and "Medicare for All," Harris's policies were more in line with former U.S. president Barack Obama.
Throughout her campaign, Kamala Harris faced the narrative of being a "cop" due to her former job as a prosecutor, a tag she couldn't quite shake. In addition, Harris was unable to gain a foothold in states with more nonwhite voters and Democratic candidate Joe Biden remained most popular with the majority of black voters. While Sanders and Warren captured the attention of the progressive left, Biden boxed Harris out among the moderates.
It is no doubt that Kamala Harris brought a perspective to the Democratic stage that is severely lacking among her fellow, mostly white, Democratic candidates, and that she defied stereotypes of what, for so long, a Democratic candidate has looked like. Still, at key moments Harris struggled to make the decisions that appealed most to the public, such as reversing her decision on Sander's "Medicare for All" policy. In recent months Harris's funding slowed, and a financial audit revealed that to continue, Harris would have to go into debt. Despite dropping out, Harris has claimed that she will keep fighting, and in response to a tweet President Donald Trump made that read, "Too bad. We will miss you Kamala," Harris replied, "Don't worry Mr. President. I'll see you at your trial."