Philadelphia Democratic Chairman Bob Brady blasted the Kamala Harris campaign team, saying they ignored his organization as the finger-pointing and soul-searching began in the Democratic Party after the party’s election losses Tuesday.
Mr. Brady took to several media outlets on Wednesday to bash the vice president’s campaign strategists, accusing them of not giving Pennsylvania the resources it needed for her to win the battleground. He also said the campaign didn’t communicate with his organization.
“They had no respect, no coordination. I never even had a conversation with the lady. They didn’t even do the right thing as far as giving us the resources we need and now they want to blame us?” Mr. Brady said.
The former Democratic congressman later told an NBC News Philadelphia affiliate that the campaign was “elitist.”
“They were just elitist and went out there, did their own thing and didn’t include Democratic city committee [or ward leaders] or committee people. They just didn’t do it,” he said.
Mr. Brady said all previous recent Democratic presidential nominees, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Presidents Biden and Obama, had coordinated with his organization.
“They talked to us. They said, ’What do we need to do?’ The Harris campaign never talked to us,” he told NBC.
“I understand some in her camp were blaming Joe Biden. Can you imagine blaming Joe Biden for her loss? She lost. He didn’t lose,” he said in the Fox interview.
In a statement, the Harris campaign clapped back — hard — at Mr. Brady.
“The Pennsylvania for Harris team knocked more than 2 million doors in the weekend leading up to Election Day, which is 2 million more doors than Bob Brady’s organization can claim to have knocked during his entire tenure as party chairman,” said Brendan McPhillips, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign.
“If there’s any immediate takeaway from Philadelphia’s turnout this cycle, it’s that Chairman Brady’s decades-long practice of fleecing campaigns for money to make up for his own lack of fundraising ability or leadership is a worthless endeavor that no future campaign should ever be forced to entertain again,” Mr. McPhillips’ statement said.
Mr. Trump won Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.
Ms. Harris won Philadelphia, but as of Wednesday evening, she had received 547,729 votes in the city, which is lower than Mr. Biden’s final total in 2020. Voter turning in Philadelphia was roughly 63%, which was lower than 2020 turnout. However, that number is expected to rise a bit after all the votes are counted.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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