Brooks on Harris Exit: 'Identity Politics' Doesn't Work in Campaigns and 'Democrats Think other People Are Racist'

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks commented on the departure of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) from the Democratic presidential field by stating that “identity politics” doesn’t work in campaigns, and that “being an African-American is a disadvantage,” because Democrats believe other people won’t vote for an African-American candidate.

Brooks stated, “I think, as a number of people have said, identity politics plays well on Twitter, not in campaigns. And Beto O’Rourke and Kamala Harris were the two most identity politics candidates.”

He continued, “I also think it’s just indisputably true this year that being an African-American is a disadvantage…Democrats think other people are racist, and that they won’t vote, I think, for an African-American. That’s — I think that’s not the whole explanation, a piece of the explanation, for why Cory Booker, who I think has run a very good campaign, has not done better and why she has not done better.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett