Millionaire investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary offered a blunt critique of Vice President Kamala Harris during a roundtable on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, arguing that her November loss was a result of long-standing political weaknesses.
O’Leary criticized Democrats for bypassing a primary process and positioning Harris as the nominee, a decision he described as a fundamental error.
“They made an excuse of $317 million in the kitty. They kept the same campaign manager and said we will anoint this faulted, broken candidate who was inconsequential in her vice presidency,” O’Leary said. “Lost in 2019. As you detailed, complete loser in 2020. Never could articulate anything. Had no compassion for people and her own advocates.”
He singled out Harris’s performance on The View as a significant misstep, where she struggled to distinguish her potential administration from the Biden presidency. Despite being given what O’Leary called “softball” questions, she failed to articulate any clear differences, further cementing her ties to the unpopular incumbent.
“She was so weak as a candidate, she couldn’t even answer that she would do something different. It ricocheted around the world. She was finished,” he added, predicting the Democratic Party would avoid a similar scenario in the future.
O’Leary has been critical of Harris throughout the 2024 election cycle. In October, he voiced concerns over how she became the nominee, suggesting Democrats sidelined a proper primary process.
He referenced reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi convinced President Joe Biden to step aside but questioned the decision to hand Harris the nomination without broader party input.
“Only 90 days ago, Pelosi went to Biden and said, ‘You need to step aside,’ and convinced him to do so. He made the decision, and he did actually ask her, and we’ve now learned this, ‘Is she the right person to drive this home?’ He questioned that,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary characterized Harris’s rise as “the second time the Democratic Party has circumvented democracy,” a sharp critique of the party’s decision-making process in a high-stakes election year.
