DEXTER, MI — Veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos believes the only way Kamala Harris can win is if she sheds her image as an elite San Francisco liberal and wins over working-class voters in the Rust Belt.
“My friends in the Hollywood film industry tell me that movie heroes and villains always fight for the same things: money, power or women,” Castellanos told the Post.
“And in this film, I think both sides have to fight over the Rust Belt. That’s the only way to 270.”
While he acknowledges Kamala’s current momentum, he believes Democratic leaders are pessimistic about her ability to win over undecided voters.
“Every Democrat who knows her well says she’s a weaker candidate than Joe Biden in that respect, because they’ve seen what the public is going to see over the next three months, which is that she’s essentially a lifelong left-wing woman who hasn’t proven herself capable of dealing with the world’s tough problems.”
Castellanos, a Cuban-born, North Carolina-raised political consultant, has seen it all.
He has worked with Republican presidential candidates from Bob Dole to Mitt Romney, shaping modern campaign strategy in the process.
Known among politicians as the “father of the attack ad,” he is also well known for his contributions to the American political vocabulary.
In 1996, Castellanos popularized the term “soccer mom,” now a well-known trope of American life, inspired by his own wife, who Castellanos says originated the term.
“Yes, I am guilty. I happened to marry her. My wife drove the Suburban assault vehicle, took the kids to school, ran the household, looked after my parents on one hand and the kids on the other,” he told the Post.
“Then one day I said to EJ Dionne, [of The Washington Post] “She’s a voter that both sides are targeting. She’s a soccer mom. And the next thing I know, it’s on a bumper sticker.”
Castellanos, who now works as a nonpartisan political consultant in Virginia, said this election cycle’s “soccer moms” are blue-collar workers from the Rust Belt who Harris needs to win.
Castellano said Harris may need to take a leaf out of her predecessor’s book to win “blue wall” states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“[She] “You have to have that working-class appeal that Joe Biden has — the train ride home to Delaware, the sense that he’s one of us and understands our problems.”
Here’s the latest on Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.
But that doesn’t mean she should ask President Biden for help, Castellanos stressed.
What should the current president do to help Kamala’s campaign, you ask?
“Never get on the campaign bus,” Castellanos warned. “Stay in your basement.”
Still, changing her image will be a tough task for Harris, who failed to impress voters as vice president and has just months to turn things around before November.
“She has a history of pretty radical liberalism on the internet, so that gives her more leverage,” Castellanos said.
“She has to appeal to the blue-collar working class of Macomb County. She has to become someone she’s not and believe in everything she’s ever rejected.”
Kamala’s best chance of winning the election? By taking a more right-wing stance, says the mustachioed veteran political scientist.
“To win in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and even Virginia, she’ll need to offer a more centrist platform. So I think many Democrats will be willing to let Kamala move to the right and be forgiven for putting a Trump bumper sticker on her campaign limousine.”
If she were to change course, it wouldn’t be at odds with the Democratic campaign history.
“Bill Clinton ran as a Democrat who supported welfare reform and the death penalty. And when Carville was asked, ‘How did you do that? How did you bring the Democratic Party together?’ he said, ‘Well, we were tired of losing!'”
“She’s caught in the middle,” Castellanos said of Harris, “because if she doesn’t offer a more centrist agenda, she’s an unrealistic liberal who is responsible for illegal immigration, crime, inflation and war around the world.”
“And if she does change her position on those issues, she’s a political chameleon, she’s not authentic,” he added. “So can she change course in an instant? Can she become something that she’s not?”
Castellanos said one viable strategy would be to don his “crime-fighting mantle” and tout his record as a prosecutor to garner support from undecided voters.
“I think her campaign believes that all she has is a ‘tough prosecutor,'” Castellanos said.
He says the best thing Kamala can do in the near future is to choose a macho, centrist running mate who can balance her in the public’s eyes.
“I think she needs someone who will make her left-wing extremism and her insincerity safer. In other words, I think she needs toxic masculinity. I think she needs a centrist Democrat. I think she needs someone like Mark Kelly of Arizona.”
Looking ahead to the coming weeks, the politician predicts a brief honeymoon period for Harris as she rides the momentum following her announcement of her appointment.
“She’ll get even more momentum at the convention by selecting a good running mate and having Obama speak at two convention speeches.”
Still, Castellanos said her history of advocating far-left talking points will likely hinder her.
Finally, the “father of the attack ad” concludes with one thoughtful observation:
“No one ran a negative commercial against Kamala Harris for the last four years, and yet she remains the most unpopular vice president in American history.”
