You live, you learn.
Kamala Harris' campaign is under fire Monday night for spending up to $20 million on a concert in a battleground state hours before her crushing presidential election loss to Donald Trump, following reports from the campaign. There are growing concerns that day laborers and vendors will not be paid because of the same amount of debt.
Members of the defeated Harris team told the Post that the concert had a devastating effect on the Democratic campaign's coffers, and that fact was no secret. One of the scheduled performances by '90s alt-rock goddess Alanis Morissette was canceled to cut costs.
Seven battleground state concerts held on the eve of the election included performances by Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit, Christina Aguilera in Las Vegas, Katy Perry in Pittsburgh and Lady Gaga in Philadelphia, three days before the election. On November 2nd, 2 Chainz joined up with Harris. For our 8th concert in Atlanta.
Obama campaign alumnus Stephanie Cutter promoted the concert concept as a way to entice low-turnout voters to vote, two people familiar with the matter said.
Although the cast donated their time and talent, the set still required a huge investment of manpower and money.
Mr. Cutter's plan was supported by Obama alumnus David Plouffe and others, one person said.
Harris added Cutter and Plouffe to her campaign shortly after she became the top candidate to replace President Biden in July, but the newcomers are hoping to recreate the 44th president's successful 2008 campaign. While attempting to do so, tensions arose within the Biden campaign.
Harris Waltz's campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon, ultimately approved the Vote Concert Plan, but later told colleagues in response to significant internal criticism that she did not want to do such a thing. He said he didn't give up on the idea. For weeks, a source told the Post.
If so, O'Malley Dillon's cryptic comments would have led to an increase in production costs, another source said. [concerts] make the last moments together [them] It costs twice as much. ”
Internal critics also questioned the campaign manager's role. Dana RosenzweigOne source said he controlled the purse strings at Harris Waltz and was responsible for causing financial concerns.
“They said, ‘We’re spending zero.’ I guess they went above zero,” one source quipped.
As it happened, this event received little mention in the news cycle, except for the rally in Philadelphia where Oprah Winfrey made headlines by claiming that Trump's victory meant “you might never get to vote again.” However, it was hardly talked about.
Voters in each of the seven battleground states gathered the next day to elect Trump, the former president and Republican candidate.
“They had large advance parties for these concerts, 40 to 60 people in some cities,” a source who was instrumental in Harris' selection told the Post. He said he was concerned about the economic impact on people.
“Vendors are going to start getting angry pretty quickly,” the official added, noting that while reimbursements for expenses are still pending, staff pay appears to be unaffected so far.
In the week before Election Day, campaign leaders realized that nearly all of their $1 billion-plus war chest was gone, leading to efforts to cut concert costs. The concert was expected to cost between $15 million and $20 million, but some efforts were made to reduce the cost of the concert. A case where an overrun has occurred.
“They definitely knew that budgets would end up being tight because they cut staff from some cities because of cost,” the source said, adding that Morissette's show was a fraction of the scheduled performances. It added that the decision was made two days ago.
Another official called the incident “a real misuse of funds that should have been spent on advertising promoting economic policies” to voters angry about inflation and high interest rates.
“It didn't matter that a bunch of celebrities wouldn't talk to anyone because, first of all, 75 million people had already voted, and secondly, people knew that Oprah wasn't saying America doesn't exist. , because they are worried about their financial problems,” the official said. .
Despite raising millions of dollars during her 107-day spring campaign, the Harris campaign ended the campaign with at least $20 million in debt, according to Politico. reported Thursday.
A Harris campaign spokeswoman and Morissette did not respond to requests for comment from the Post.
