Keith McCants isn’t surprised that Kamala Harris lost the election.
And he believes he knows why.
According to several media outlets, including CNN and NBC News, the Harris campaign raised $1 billion in campaign funds. McCants, chairman of the Bryan County Democratic Committee, believes not enough money was spent in Georgia, one of the seven swing states Harris lost.
“I am not surprised by how it went down,” McCants said. “On a personal level, I saw it coming. The campaign generated more than $1 billion.
Where has all that money gone? It did not come to Georgia. The state leadership for the campaign was inept. They did not respond to Georgia’s needs. There is a lot of finger-pointing and blaming going on. “The ball was dropped, big time.”
Despite being an active member of the Democratic Party, he believes it fell short in this election. He was dissatisfied with the lack of emphasis on small-town America, pointing to towns such as Americus, Dublin, and Statesboro where he believes Harris could have gained traction.
“The only people that were doing something on the ground was Black Voters Matter,” McCants told me. “The campaign did not directly send funds to grassroots organizations. She didn’t travel to rural America; she kept returning to Atlanta.
They could have sent her to a smaller town in Georgia. Her mere presence would have galvanized people not only in that area, but throughout the surrounding counties. There wasn’t much money spent on the ground.
Although Ellabell resident Tracy Stafford was not skeptical of how the Harris campaign spent those funds, she did wish Harris had made more stops in rural communities as well.
“Every time I went out to the mailbox, there would be 2-3 flyers for Trump,” Stafford joked. “I said, where’s ours? [Kamala] could have met people on a ballfield. Stop coming to Savannah and come talk to us. I guess they assumed that because it was rural America, we were all Trump supporters.
Stafford has more serious concerns, however.
She stated that she has not gotten out of bed in the past two days. She is not sick or tired, but rather overwhelmed by what her future will look like now that Donald Trump has been reelected.
She believes Trump will target the homosexual community’s rights and fears that his administration will deprive gay couples of their marriage licenses. She is concerned about the consequences for herself and her wife.
“I think Project 2025 will do that,” Stafford said. “If you read it, you will see they are going to dismantle everything.”
Stafford believes that the election was decided on whether the country was ready for a female president rather than race.
“This county was not ready for a woman in office,” Stafford explained. “Even if you disagreed with her policies, you didn’t have to be afraid of her. People who are marginalized should be afraid of him. Kamala has a charismatic personality. She seems like someone you could approach. Every day, Trump said something outrageous and there was no filter.
While Trump spouted divisive rhetoric, Democrats remained focused on unity, but Stafford believes they should have thrown a few punches too.
“Democrats don’t fight – we don’t come out on the offensive,” Stafford informed the crowd. “Why didn’t Biden come out and discuss what he did during his term? “We just sit and wait to be rolled over by Trump.”
McCants is concerned that the party is heading in the wrong direction and that they should focus on what Americans need rather than what the party wants for themselves.
“I am all for the working class,” McCants stated. “I’m a small-town Georgian. I value education and agriculture. I’m looking out for the next person, the less fortunate. Nowadays, the party does not prioritize voters or issues.”
