Reactions Come In After Results
As Donald Trump surged to victory over Kamala Harris on Election Night, an array of left-leaning figures in the media and Democratic Party scrambled to frame his win in terms of underlying racism and sexism, particularly given Harris’s historic candidacy as a woman of color. Fox News was the first to call the race in Trump’s favor, though other networks hesitated for hours before finally acknowledging the results.
David Axelrod, a former senior advisor to Barack Obama, voiced an early analysis, suggesting that while Harris’s candidacy had weaknesses, her defeat couldn’t be separated from issues of gender bias. He argued that America’s unbroken history of male presidents may have hindered Harris’s campaign, stating, “We’ve never had a woman president; there’s sexism in this country.”
This sentiment found echoes in the coverage from other major outlets, as analysts sought explanations for her loss that delved beyond policy into identity politics.
ABC’s Linsey Davis took this further, questioning the role of both race and gender. She pointed out that the U.S. ranks low on the global scale in terms of female leaders and noted persistent wage disparities affecting Black women, framing these issues as part of an electoral context that may have worked against Harris.
“I think that’s something we cannot underestimate,” she said, suggesting that Harris’s unique profile as both a woman and a person of color added layers of complexity to the election outcome.
Representative Maxine Waters of California was more direct in her response, unequivocally attributing Trump’s win to “racism.” She argued that Trump’s rhetoric had primarily targeted white voters, aiming to “take the country back” from minority groups, whom she said he portrayed as beneficiaries of an unfair system. To Waters, Trump’s campaign spoke to a demographic nostalgic for a perceived past, making the election less about policy and more about preserving a traditional social hierarchy.
The focus on identity factors in this analysis highlights an ongoing schism between progressive and conservative interpretations of what drives voter choices. To Trump’s supporters, the victory represents an endorsement of his policies on the economy, border security, and national pride.
For many on the Left, however, the outcome signals a barrier to diversity in leadership and points to an electorate still swayed by race and gender biases.
Amid this discourse, the broader question remains: Are identity factors truly the dominant reasons behind such an electoral outcome, or did Trump’s platform resonate with a working-class base looking for pragmatic solutions to issues like inflation, jobs, and security? Trump’s campaign capitalized on these pressing economic concerns, emphasizing themes that many voters felt spoke directly to their daily challenges.