New York Times’ Astead Herndon Says Democrats’ Primary Refusal, ‘Racist Assumption’ of Black Vote Led to Trump Win

New York Times political reporter Astead Herndon doesn’t think Democrats should be surprised by the election outcome based on how the race was run.

Talking to Michael Barbaro on The Daily podcast late on Election Night, Herndon said Donald Trump’s reelection win came down to a few key things: the Democrats refusing to hold a Primary and the “racist assumption” they had the Black vote.

[T]he Democratic refusal to see the unpopularity of Joe Biden, the dismissal of anyone who talked about a primary, the demanding of party loyalty — all of that looks ridiculous, and the national picture that shows a consistent desire for change I think has to be read as first and foremost a rejection of the current administration,” he said. “And there was a lot of signs that pointed to that for a long time, and so in the same way I think there is an active embrace of Donald Trump you can’t ignore, I think you also have to point out that the strategy that Democrats took, the self-belief that they had, that they were certain of, has put them in this situation.”

Barbaro brought up the “Trump realignment” since his defeat in 2020. Almost across the board, the President-elect showed improvements which indicate the countries shift more to the right. The host, along with other guests Nate Cohn and Lisa Lerer discussed his improvement in a number of different voting blocks – many of which Democrats thought would remain loyal to them. Herndon said that was a “racist assumption.”

“Why would they believe that [they had the traditional voting blocks of support],” Herndon asked. “Like, that evidence has been clear about the drop-off for a long time, right? Like, we’ve had 2016, we’ve had 2020, we’ve actually had a lot of evidence to say that the demographic destiny undertone is one that is a faulty premise. The fact that they are holding onto the Obama era, in my opinion, is a racist assumption … I would say that there is an assumption, it was a failure of imagination that it couldn’t be true.”

Finally, much has been said about Kamala Harris’ campaign being mired by President Joe Biden, his dismal first debate, and the overall feeling toward him in the country. Biden’s shadowed loomed large over the entire election and despite the Harris campaign’s best effort, Herndon said she never really escaped it.

“The biggest character in this race to me was not on the ballot. It was Joe Biden, in my opinion,” he said. “Like, Joe Biden’s refusal to do what he has implied he would do in 2020 and transition to a different type of generation, allow Democrats to have a broader conversation about change, allow Democrats to be freed from the status quo is not what happened. I think that it would be easier for me to say that Donald Trump completed this mass realignment among the working class if we had a universe where the Democrats had a primary, where the Democrats nominated a candidate that was based around some set of ideas, and it was not tied to this administration so clearly, and the status quo. But since that is not what happened, I think it has made the Republican ability to be the agents of change so much easier that I find it the biggest thing that has happened in this race.”

Harris delivered her concession speech Wednesday afternoon at Howard University. The brief appearance was one of hope where she conceded the election but not “the fight that fueled this campaign.”

“My heart is full today, full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me, full of love for our country and full of resolve. The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” she said from Washington, D.C. “But hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”