Podcast host Alex Cooper questions Harris' campaign spending on ‘Call Her Daddy’ set

Alex Cooper, the '

Call Her Daddy podcast

' host, expressed surprise over reports that Vice President Kamala Harris's failed presidential campaign spent $100,000 to replicate Cooper’s Los Angeles studio in Washington, DC.
The set was created for Harris's appearance on the podcast ahead of the election. Cooper, 30, described the cost as excessive, calling the makeshift set "not that nice" during a recent interview at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit.
"My studio in Los Angeles doesn’t even cost six figures,” Cooper remarked, jokingly adding that the "cardboard" set certainly didn’t reflect such an expense. “With love to them, it was gorgeous, but it wasn’t that nice,” she said, drawing laughter from the summit audience.
Harris's campaign was criticised for its extravagant spending during its short, 100-day run.

The campaign poured $494 million into advertising, including a $900,000 display at the Las Vegas Sphere. Despite the massive outlay, Harris failed to secure Nevada, which went to Donald Trump, reported the New York Post.
The campaign reportedly raised over $2.3 billion but spent heavily on events and advertising, drawing ire for what critics described as financial mismanagement.
By contrast, Trump’s campaign spent approximately $750 million but garnered significantly more attention and votes, winning both the electoral and popular vote—a GOP first in decades, reported Financial Times.

Podcast appearance backlash
Cooper’s decision to host Harris on Call Her Daddy sparked a backlash among her listeners.
Many criticised the interview for avoiding critical issues like illegal immigration and the Biden-Harris administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, which had recently devastated southern states. Instead, Harris used the platform to criticise Trump’s Supreme Court nominations and promote her prosecutorial career.
Despite the criticism, Cooper defended her decision and said, “In this election, the entire focus was on women’s rights, and as the host of a podcast with a predominantly female audience, it felt like a no-brainer.” She added that she offered Trump the opportunity to appear on the podcast, but his campaign declined.
Harris's Call Her Daddy interview, with 933,000 views, paled in comparison to Trump's October 25 appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, which amassed over 52 million views on YouTube.
As per Daily Mail, Rogan had also been in talks to host Harris, but negotiations fell through after she refused to travel to his Austin studio and imposed a one-hour limit on the interview.