Sunny Hostin was surprised by Kamala Harris flubbing her ‘layup’ question about differing from Biden

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“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin said Tuesday she was surprised at Vice President Kamala Harris’ bungled answer to her question last month about what she would have done differently from President Biden in his only term. 

Harris’ now-infamous response that there was “not a thing that comes to mind” that she’d have done differently from her boss stunned political observers, given her struggle to distance herself from the unpopular Biden administration on the campaign trail. Several pundits and reports have pointed to this moment as a turning point in Harris’ campaign. 

Asked by “The View” producer Brian Teta during the show’s “Behind the Table” podcast about whether she “personally cost Kamala Harris the election with her question,” Hostin said she wished she had that much power, because she would have “flipped it” the other way. 

“I followed up because I was surprised at the answer. Look, I think it wasn’t so much about the question, but it was really more about the answer,” Hostin said. “The reason I followed up was because that wasn’t a gotcha question. That was a layup, really.”

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Kamala Harris couldn’t immediately think of something she’d do differently from Joe Biden’s first term when asked on “The View” on Oct. 8, 2024. (The View / ABC)

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Hostin, an avid Harris supporter who predicted she’d win in a “blowout,” said she gave Harris a chance to speak to the people who were concerned about the vice president being a “change agent.” 

“I thought she would then say I would build on the wins we’ve had, and I had a laundry list of wins in my head, and she didn’t answer it that way, she said not a thing comes to mind,” Hostin said, noting that it showed how “loyal” she was to President Biden, who stepped aside from the race in July and endorsed his VP for the Democratic nomination.

Hostin said she wasn’t going to opine on whether Harris gave a right or wrong answer.

“I will just say I was surprised at the answer because it was a question that really could have inured to her benefit, it was a question that could have been a change maker,” she said.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech after the 2024 presidential election, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Democratic strategist James Carville said Harris’ failed campaign could be reduced to that moment on “The View.”

“I think if this campaign is reducible to one moment, we are in a 65% wrong-track country,” he said on “The Bulwark Podcast.” “The country wants something different. And she’s asked, as is so often the case, in a friendly audience, on ‘The View,’ ‘How would you be different than Biden?’ That’s the one question that you exist to answer, all right? That is it. That’s the money question. That’s the one you want. That’s the one that everybody wants to know the answer to. And you freeze!”

The Trump campaign was reportedly thrilled with Harris’ answer, and the clip swiftly became the subject of national advertisements.

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The “View” anecdote led a CNN story last week headlined, “Where Harris’ campaign went wrong,” as well as BBC’s “Why Kamala Harris lost: A flawed candidate or doomed campaign?” and USA Today’s “How Kamala Harris lost the election: The fatal flaws in a doomed election bid.”

Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.