Lawyer and TV co-host Sunny Hostin took some time during The View's Wednesday episode to defend the campaign of Sen. Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the 2020 presidential race earlier this month. Hostin compared the Harris campaign to multiple campaigns that are still active in the race, like Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who each consistently polled lower than Harris throughout the duration of the race so far.

"The polling, which was just done yesterday, had Kamala at 5% of the vote," Hostin said, continuing through an attempted interruption by co-host Meghan McCain. "Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard had 2% and Andrew at 4%. She's been steady, not trending downward."

Hostin pointed to the racism and sexism Harris faced as a woman of color candidate as a major factor of her 2020 campaign's descent while other less popular candidates continue to move forward.


"There were obviously problems with her campaign, obviously financial problems," Hostin said. "But I don't think that you can look at that without also looking at the fact that, as a woman of color, she also faced unprecedented sexism compounded by racism."

Co-host Joy Behar attempted to offer a side explanation, looking for a comparison between Harris' campaign finances and Klobuchar's. While none was offered on the show, past Federal Elections Commission filings showed Harris had just over $10.5 million on hand, while Klobuchar was shown to have just over $3.6 million. 

Harris ended her campaign, citing fundraising issues in a video message posted to her Twitter account. 

"My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Harris told supporters. “I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.”

There is no singular reason why the Harris campaign was cut short before many of the others, although discussions surrounding the standards held for female candidates and candidates of color seem to be long overdue. 

2020-Democratic-PrimaryKamala-Harris-campaignSen. Kamala HarrisSunny-HostinThe-View