Michelle Obama was the Democratic candidate Republicans most feared to challenge Donald Trump in the November election, a longtime GOP activist sensationally claimed.
But instead, they made a huge mistake by crowning Vice President Kamala Harris for the position, Justin Evans told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
And that decision means the party has “forfeited” the election, which will now be an easy win for Trump, he said.
“We’re confident we could have beaten Michelle,” added Evans, 40. “But she would have been by far the most competitive.”
A longtime Republican operative revealed that after Biden left office, the only replacement Trump’s campaign feared was former First Lady Michelle Obama
The Trump operative welcomed Kamala’s coronation because it means his campaign “doesn’t even have to rewrite the playbook” over the attacks on Biden
“Kamala is a very weak candidate who has deep ties to the White House and Biden’s agenda,” said Evans, a veteran Republican who served as special projects director for Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign and remains a campaign adviser.
“We don’t even have to rewrite the script, which we should have done with someone outside the White House circle, like Michelle.”
Evans spoke as the GOP grew accustomed to the fact that Harris, 59, will carry the Democratic flag into the November election.
Just three days after Joe Biden (81) announced he would not run for a second term, she has already gathered enough delegates to be on the ballot.
But Evans says it’s only good news for the campaign to make Trump, 78, the second president in history to reclaim the White House after a defeat at the ballot box.
“Kamala does not fundamentally change the scenario, which other new candidates would have done,” he said.
“We thought Biden was already dead and we think she is too.”
Kamala Harris entered the presumptive nomination hunt within days of Biden dropping out of the race, but a Trump insider said she is seen as a “weak candidate” who could easily be defeated
Kamala’s affair with then-California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, when she was less than half his age, could be a stumbling block to her campaign, Evans said.
He pointed out that Harris has a long record of service dating back 20 years and has held public office continuously since then, first as district attorney for San Francisco, then as California attorney general, senator and vice president.
“It’s a record full of weaknesses,” said Evans, 40.
‘There is already a lot of information available about her, including videos from decades ago.
“She was a disaster as border czar, which is going to be a big problem. And so is the fact that she has clearly hidden the situation around Biden’s mental illness, and that is damaging.
“She also ran for president once, but her campaign was a complete failure. She didn’t get a single delegate and dropped out of the race before a single vote was cast.”
Another issue that will hurt Harris, he said, was her affair with then-California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, which began when he was 60 and she was only 29.
He believes Republicans will bring this up whenever they can.
Justin Evans, a former director of special projects for Trump’s 2024 campaign, revealed all in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com
He said Trump’s Truth Social post in which he wrote about her “absolutely terrible pole positions” was not a typo.
Instead, he suspected it was part of a concerted effort that drew on Harris’ romantic history, which included an affair with former talk show host Montel Williams.
“There are no accidents,” Evans said.
‘Kamala has already gotten into trouble, so it’s easy to use.’
Harris clearly has an advantage among voters of color, but even that may not help her as much as expected, because “no one is going to believe her evolution from a hardliner who locked up small-time drug offenders, including young African Americans who are still in prison, to a criminal justice reformer with a marijuana strain named after her,” Evans said.
“Her history with drugs and crime is something that is going to cost her votes with Democrats and African Americans in particular. That’s going to hurt her and it’s something that we’re going to address.
“She desperately needs a high turnout from the African-American community, but that’s not going to happen.
“Another big issue is the border,” he added. “We need to keep Republican voters not only engaged, but motivated enough to vote — not apathetic.”
Evans added that Trump’s campaign will certainly continue to hammer Kamala on her role as “border czar” under Joe Biden, as he feels the border crisis will be a “key issue that will drive turnout.”
“It will be an important issue that will boost turnout for us.
“She’s not a great politician, so all President Trump has to do is let her talk.
“She is the candidate, but she has no mandate from the voters,” Evans of South Carolina stressed.
“She is universally despised, she is politically similar to Biden, but her policies are more extreme, and that is good for us.
“As a replacement for Biden, it’s pretty much a tie. She’s going to be easy to beat,” he predicted. “By choosing Kamala, the Democrats have lost the race.
“The situation in the race has not changed in fact since Biden withdrew and she became the nominee.”
Evans said that after the failed assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the former president’s shocked supporters were more determined than ever to cast their votes for him in November. And he won’t lose any “soft” GOP voters to Harris who might have defected to another candidate.
“We’re going after the disgruntled Democrats who are angry about the process that led to her becoming the nominee, and the Democrats who are angry about being lied to about Biden.
“We also get more voter participation, which is incredibly important because apathy is our enemy.”
Now that Kamala needs to find a running mate quickly, insiders fear she will struggle to recruit popular candidates like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who doesn’t want to risk being associated with failure.
The GOP insider concluded that he believes Kamala will choose Arizona Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly, especially since he “has no presidential ambitions for 2028.”
Evans also said it could be difficult for Harris to choose a running mate because candidates with serious ambitions to become commander in chief in 2028 or later don’t want to be associated with failure.
“How is she going to convince Shapiro, Newsom or Whitmer to be her running mate in what will likely be a losing campaign?” he asked of the governors of Pennsylvania, California and Michigan.
“It would be better for them to sit back and run for president in 2028 without damaging their future chances by playing second fiddle and losing.”
He said he believes she will choose Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, the former astronaut whose wife, then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot and seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in 2012.
“He comes from a swing state, so that’s positive. He doesn’t have to give up his Senate seat if Kamala loses. Plus, he has no ambitions to run for president in 2028.”