Vice President Kamala Harris’ deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, said during an interview that the Democratic Party was “losing its grip on the culture” as more Americans turn to podcasts.
“Campaigns are in many ways last-mile marketers that exist in an area defined by culture, and the institutions through which Democrats have historically had the ability to influence culture are losing their relevance,” he said during an interview. with Semafor. “You can’t get a national shift of eight points to the right without losing control of the culture.”
Harris and President-elect Donald Trump have both made an effort to speak with podcasts and non-traditional media ahead of the 2024 election. Flaherty told Semafor during the interview that they had trouble booking Harris on sports podcasts.
“Sports and culture have kind of merged, and as sports and culture became more public and more or less associated with these Trump conservative values, it became more complicated for athletes to speak out in our favor,” Flaherty said . “It became more complicated for sports personalities to include us in their shows because they didn’t want to do ‘politics’.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, watches a monitor of the event backstage just before she takes the stage for her final campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Flaherty argued that sports culture became associated with right-wing culture, and she delivered difficult for their campaign to reach people.
“That’s not to say that Steph Curry, Steve Kerr and LeBron (James) and all those expressions weren’t impactful or important,” Flaherty said. “It had more impact because it had become so much more difficult. But certainly the culture associated with heavy sports viewing has become associated with right-wing culture in a way that makes it harder for us to reach people.”
Harris campaign aides who have spoken out about their failed bid for the presidency have done so complained about the mediaand blame Harris for their questions.
“Real people somehow heard that we wouldn’t be doing interviews, which was both untrue and also so contrary to every standard set for Trump that I think that was a problem,” Jen O’ said . Malley Dillon said during a discussion on “Pod Save America.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) at the Swissotel in Chicago on June 24, 2022. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
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She also argued that when Harris did an interview, the questions were “small and complicated” and did not “inform” a voter.
Flaherty also talked about Harris avoiding more traditional media outlets, although Harris did several interviews with CNN, MSNBC and Fox News prior to the election.
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“There’s just no value — with respect to my colleagues in the mainstream press — in talking to the New York Times or the Washington Post in a general election, because those (readers) are already with us,” Flaherty said.
