Harris Campaign Co-Chair Comes Clean On 1 Of Democrats’ Massive Election Flaws

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), a co-chair of Kamala Harris’ campaign, urged Democrats to change gears Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump saw a significant gain in support from Latino men who voted in this year’s election.

“Look, she still won, obviously, Latinas overwhelmingly. She won the Latino vote overall but there’s a lot of work to do with Latino men and I think that’s something we as Democrats have to engage in,” said Garcia, a Latino congressman, in an interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper.

He added that this is “particularly” the case for Latinos and immigrants like himself, who came to the U.S. with his family and “worked hard in search of a better life.”

“I think there’s a lot of work to do to ensure that we communicate to folks the Democratic Party is the party of working people, is the party that supports immigrants, is the party that supports the social safety net,” Garcia said.

Tapper had asked Garcia — who immigrated to the U.S. with his mother at five-years-old — how he “personally” got it “so wrong” after exit polls showed the demographic embracing Trump more than past presidential election cycles.

The CNN anchor then referred to a Latina producer from Los Angeles on his staff who has been seeing a “phenomenon” of people in her community shifting to the right over the years.

“I don’t think she was surprised. I know she wasn’t surprised by what happened. You were. So, how did you get it so wrong?” Tapper asked.

“I was,” Garcia replied.

Garcia, earlier in the interview, described the Harris’ election loss as a “rough night” before claiming that he and other Latinos across the country felt the vice president would win their vote in the election.

“The fact that we lost, particularly amongst Latino men, so much support, I think is a challenge,” he said.