It’s important to note that there are 2 possibilities:

1. Leftists had little influence, and therefore did not impact the election. This is further reinforced by the fact that many leftists did vote for Harris, leftists are not a monolith. Therefore, the problem is with how the Harris campaign fared compared to Biden in 2020. I believe this is more likely.

2. Leftists had major influence, and the Democrats knowingly gambled on moving rightward. This is still a failure of the Democrats! If Leftists actually have the power claimed, then the minimum Harris could have done is run a similar campaign to Biden, not “Republican-lite.”