The top aide to Harris' campaign concedes that not having a Democratic primary was a grave mistake.

David Plouffe, a key advisor to the Harris campaign, stated in a conversation with The Atlantic that the absence of a primary election for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate was a "cardinal sin" that contributed to their loss to President-elect Donald Trump.

According to Plouffe, if there had been a primary election with multiple candidates, the winner would have been better prepared and had more time to campaign. Not having this process is a major mistake.

The loss of the Harris campaign was mainly attributed to a tight schedule following President Biden's withdrawal from the race and the media's portrayal of the vice president.

Plouffe stated that when President Biden withdrew from the race, the Democratic presidential campaign was in a "gruesome" position.

"Plouffe revealed that when he first saw the actual numbers, they were "pretty gruesome." The Sun Belt was worse than the Blue Wall, but the Blue Wall was also bad. Young voters across the board, including Hispanic, Black, and Asian voters, were in "terrible shape." After the candidate switch, some improvement was seen, but it was not enough. This was a "rescue mission" as the situation was "catastrophic.""

Pelosi initially stated that the election process was open to Democrats and that Harris had won the primary. However, after her loss, she said that the president should have dropped out earlier to allow Democrats to hold a primary.

In the weeks after the election, the Harris campaign was criticized for not taking responsibility for their loss after speaking to "Pod Save America."

Jen O'Malley Dillon, campaign chair for Harris, previously criticized the narrative that Harris was scared to do interviews during their discussion on "Pod Save America."

Dillon stated on "Pod Save America" that he believes a narrative of 107 days without interviews was not accurate, as they were doing interviews in their own way. However, the public perceived that they were not going to have interviews, which was both false and counter to the standard set for Trump. Dillon believes this was a problem.

Harris did not sit for her first interview until 39 days after Biden endorsed her as his replacement on the ticket.

In the interview with The Atlantic, Quentin Fulks, the campaign manager, explained why they chose to limit media involvement during the first month of her campaign.

Fulks stated that their priority was to get her into the battleground states, despite not wanting to be defensive. She had been traveling but was focused on peripheral states as Vice President, while President Biden frequently traveled to the core battleground states.