2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) closed three of her four field offices in New Hampshire in order to fully concentrate on Iowa.
This is the latest sign Harris knows the end is near for her on the campaign trail. From WMUR:
In a statement shared first with WMUR on Friday afternoon, Harris campaign spokesperson Nate Evans said:”Sen. Harris and this team set out with one goal — to win the nomination and defeat Donald Trump in 2020. To do so, the campaign has made a strategic decision to realign resources to go all-in on Iowa, resulting in office closures and staff realignments and reductions in New Hampshire.“The campaign will continue to have a staff presence in New Hampshire but the focus is and will continue to be on Iowa.”Evans added: “Sen. Harris will not visit New Hampshire on Nov. 6 and 7, but her name will still be placed on the primary ballot.”
The Keene Sentinel took pictures of the empty field office on Main Street in Keene, which just opened in September. One table had opened bags of Cheetos and Halloween candy.
The Portsmouth office’s chalkboard read, “105 days until Feb. 11.” Her Nashua office is empty. You can only tell she had an office in the building because of the “Kamala Harris” on the list of offices.
Even if Harris performs well in Iowa, the decision to ignore New Hampshire will likely harm her. If anything it sounds like Harris wants to go out with a bang:
“It’s not a strategy that has been proven to be successful,” said Wayne Lesperance, politics professor at New England College. “It’s such low hanging fruit to come in here and file and get a positive news story.””If you don’t win, place of show in Iowa and New Hampshire, it’s very difficult to have the momentum necessary to go forward in other states,” he said. “What it tells me is that her campaign is on life support. It’s desperate.”She’s thumbing her nose at the New Hampshire primary, and there is no upside to this approach,” Lesperance said.Lesperance also pointed out that Harris could also be burning her bridges in New Hampshire for any future run for president, if she is unsuccessful in the current campaign.
Only sitting presidents have ever not filed personally for the New Hampshire primary in the past. Secretary of State William Gardner, who has served at that position for 43 years, said he cannot recall a non-sitting president doing this during his tenure.
The candidates who choose to ignore or pay little attention to New Hampshire end up failing.
Harris started off strong in New Hampshire after she announced her campaign in January. Venues filled when she did visit and many had to wait outside.
She never took advantage of this. Harris has only made eight visits to New Hampshire, the lowest out of all the 2020 candidates.
Harris last visited the Granite State in September for the state’s Democratic Convention. She promised to make New Hampshire “a top priority moving forward,” describing it as “a very important state” and a “great state.”
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