Sherry Gay-Dagnogo hates to say I told you so. 

For months, she said she had warned the Harris-Walz campaign that their message was not hitting with Detroiters. Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t outline a clear vision for change, Gay-Dagnogo said, didn’t empower surrogates to communicate economic policies, underestimated a revolt of young voters angered by the mounting death toll in Gaza and failed to disrupt negative perceptions shaped by Republican advertisements. 

Former President Donald Trump swept back into power with decisive wins and record turnout in swing states, including Michigan. Detroit turnout was only 47%, lower than Democrats expected. Not only did Harris trail 19,307 votes behind President Joe Biden in 2020, she earned less than Hillary Clinton in 2016. 

Gay-Dagnogo, who was reelected Tuesday to the Detroit school board, said Trump’s victory confirmed her worst fears. Now Detroit leaders are contending with what will likely be a frayed relationship with the incoming president, and potential drops in federal support for struggling communities. 

Gay-Dagnogo said she’s among a group of Black political leaders whose concerns were ignored by the campaign. 

“I wish I wasn’t right,” she said Wednesday. “It was too little too late and that’s always the Democratic way. I don’t know if they’ll learn. They’ve become immune to the stench of dysfunction.”

The Harris campaign engaged Black voters with near-daily events at churches, union halls, house parties, Divine Nine Greek organizations, barber shops and beauty salons. They brought in actors, musicians, political leaders and influencers to persuade voters. 

Branden Snyder, director of Michigan Election Defense Coalition, said he encountered voters who didn’t think Harris was talking enough about improving the economy and working class issues. Harris had a plan to provide down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers and tax credits for new parents, but voters weren’t familiar with it. 

Part of the issue, Snyder said, was the truncated campaign season Harris had to work with. She replaced Biden in June and was challenged with creating policies that differentiated herself from an unpopular administration within a matter of months.

“People don’t feel like they’re put back together coming out of the pandemic,” Snyder said. “Her policy platform was more robust than Trump’s; he wasn’t offering any specifics. People were looking to hear what can government do, what can she do. That was a miss. There wasn’t enough conversation about the rising cost of rent, student tuition, good jobs.” 

Benji Ballin, 28, was a paid canvasser for the Harris campaign who said he encountered enough Detroiters on the fence to make him nervous. He said some voters planned to vote in down-ballot races but not the presidential race. 

Clips circulating on social media ahead of the election showed Harris saying she wouldn’t do anything differently than Biden and supported economic policies that would benefit all of society rather than Black people specifically. Social media users sharing the interviews said it showed Harris wasn’t focused on helping Black voters. 

Scott Holiday, director of nonprofit advocacy group Detroit Action, said Harris couldn’t articulate a winning message on improving the economy. Instead, Holiday said voters were told to fear Trump. 

“We saw the best turnout in 2008 and that happened through hope and change – people wanted something and were willing to (vote) to get it,” Holiday said. “That simply wasn’t the case here. The majority of Democratic messaging was ‘be afraid of this man.’ I don’t like Trump’s messaging but he was giving his base something to fight for.” 

Justin Onwenu, a Detroit activist and entrepreneurship director for the city, said rage against Trump didn’t translate into a Democratic victory in 2016. Onwenu, a delegate for Bernie Sanders in 2020, was knocking doors for the Harris campaign in Detroit. 

“I was shocked by how many people said they already voted, basically allowing us to turn attention to people who hadn’t,” Onwenu said. “There are some voters who are cynical and dissatisfied with everything, (who say) nothing ever changes. You could write 20 different stories about what Michigan voters care about and it would be true.”

Snyder worked for Clinton’s 2016 campaign. He said the Harris team made a similar mistake by trying to pull Republicans to their side. Allying with former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter may have done more harm than good, he said.

Snyder said former President Bill Clinton also “didn’t do any favors” by saying Israel was forced to kill civilians during a campaign stop in Benton Harbor. Arab American and Muslim communities were deeply angered by Harris’ support for Israel’s wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

Gay-Dagnogo said the war turned off young college students who viewed it as a human justice issue.

Trump overtly pledged to end the wars during visits with Muslim leaders in Michigan. 

Harris pledged to secure a ceasefire but ignored calls to end military aid for Israel. During her final campaign rally in Michigan, Harris said she would “will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza.” 

Holiday said the Harris campaign may have focused too much on the prospect of a national abortion ban. Though reproductive freedom is vitally important, he said, “people wanted to vote with their wallet.” 

Gay-Dagnogo agreed. She argues the campaign put too much focus on protecting abortion rights in a state that already mobilized voters around that issue in 2023. 

“Black elected women (told the campaign) the community is tired of hearing about abortion,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “It’s an important issue but we want to get bread and butter issues in the way the inner city needs to hear. The housing crisis, the cost of food.” 

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz made abortion the centerpiece of his closing argument to Detroiters during a Monday campaign visit. 

Snyder said the emphasis on the potential threat Trump poses to democratic norms, while important, was a nebulous issue for working class voters. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I believe it and understand the concerns of Project 2025, but for a lot of Black voters democracy doesn’t work in a lot of places already,” Snyder said. “I don’t know if the hand wringing around fascism was enough to move people.”