Question

Kamala Harris keeps incorrectly claiming she lost ‘closest’ election to Trump.

Answer 1

This article’s claim is incorrect.

The Mediaite article references a video of Kamala Harris stating she lost the “closest election for President of The United States in the 21st century”, and claims her statement is incorrect. However, the data show otherwise; if “closest” refers to the national popular vote margin, and the 21st century is defined as beginning in 2001, then Harris’s statement is actually correct. Although not uniquely close in terms of electoral college votes, the 2024 presidential election was in fact the narrowest margin in the 21st century for popular vote, with a margin of just 1.47%, according to certified results from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). 

All presidential elections held after 2000 had larger popular-vote gaps than 2024, meaning Harris did in fact lose the narrowest popular-vote contest in the 21st century so far. While Mediaite correctly notes that the Electoral College margin (312 - 226) was not uniquely close, Harris’s wording likely referred to the popular vote, not the Electoral College. 

The article source, Mediaite, is a legitimate news site, but its commentary pieces often blur news and opinion. On this specific point, the article’s conclusion conflicts with verified election data.

Federal Election Commission, Official 2024 Presidential General Election Results, https://www.fec.gov/documents/5644/2024presgeresults.pdf

U.S. National Archives, 2024 Electoral College Results, https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/2024

American Presidency Project, Presidential Election Statistics, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections

Comments

I would also like to reiterate that the Mediate article clearly has some bias, with the author using quotations frequently to exaggerate their opinion, while not using only facts. I also agree that while Mediate is a legit source, in this article there is little to no distinction between facts and opinion.