A top fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee busted the bubble for any idea of Vice President Kamala Harris returning to the political stage, including a run for the White House in 2028, saying "this is not what America wants."
Lindy Li, a Democrat strategist and member of the DNC's national fundraising committee, has also been a surrogate for the Harris and Biden presidential campaigns.
"This is not what America wants," she said of a Harris presidential bid in 2028, the Daily Mail reported Thursday, citing Li's interview with Fox News. "Nov. 5 was a decisive defeat for the Democratic Party."
Li has called herself a "conservative Democrat" and previously suggested that party leaders former President Barack Obama and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California wanted an open primary to replace Biden rather than crowning Harris as the nominee.
Li said Harris suffered a "resounding defeat" against President-elect Donald Trump and that any future run would be "indulging in delusions."
"We do not want Kamala Harris," Li said. "We don't want failed border policies, and I feel like I'm liberated, and I can finally tell the truth that the Democrats completely failed on the border."
Li, 34, said she has been ostracized and suffered abuse from fellow Democrats because she "dared to tell the truth," likening the Democratic Party to a cult. Li, a naturalized American citizen whose parents emigrated from China to England and eventually to the U.S. when she was 5, said Democrats must return to strong borders and "bread and butter issues."
"Just because you care about these issues doesn't make you a sexist, racist," she said.
Li criticized Harris' unchecked spending — reportedly $1.5 billion in a 107-day campaign — and warned that Democrat donors were furious after reports of mismanaged spending that turned political consultants into "multimillionaires."
"There's a lot of conflict of interest here," she said. "And we need a careful accounting and probably more granular than the FEC [Federal Elections Commission] report would offer. Because if we don't do that, how are voters and donors ever going to trust the Democratic Party again?"
Li also criticized Harris for not striking the right tone in a call with donors after the election. Li said she was "stunned" there was no post-mortem or lessons learned, and that the Harris campaign spent more time "patting each other on the back" despite deep debts left over from the campaign.
"I believe at one moment in the call she was talking about her Thanksgiving recipe," Li said. "I think I was stunned to hear that, given just the extent and brutality of the loss."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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