Former Obama adviser David Axelrod, speaking Saturday on CNN’s “Newsroom Live,” delivered a crushing blow to Vice President Kamala Harris’s chances in November.

Axelrod insisted that while Harris seemed to be gaining support nationally, the former president is still the favorite to win come November.

“There’s a lot of irrational exuberance on the Democratic side of the aisle right now because there was despair for some period of time about what November was going to look like,” Axelrod said. “Now, people feel like there’s a chance. But it’s absolutely Trump’s race to lose right now. He is ahead, and he is ahead in most of the battleground states. They’re close; they can be won by either candidate. I think it’s a wide-open race, but Trump has the advantage right now, and everybody should be sober about that on the Democratic side.”

Trump and Harris are currently in the middle of a debate saga after both candidates failed to agree on their proposed debate. Trump wants a debate hosted by Fox News. On the other hand, Harris wants the ABC News debate.

Axelrod insisted that it was not a good look for Trump while suggesting the former president might entirely back out of the debate.

“His whole message has been built for two years now around strength,” Axelrod said. “He’s strong. He’s the guy who can handle these problems, and so on, and now he’s got a younger and more agile opponent when it comes to debating, and he doesn’t want to debate. I don’t know that it’s a great look for him. I do think at the end of the day, he may feel he has to debate.”

Axelrod noted that Harri’s recent surge might be causing concerns within Trump’s camp.

“I think there’s a justifiable sense of concern in his camp that this thing could get away from him. It may be their race to lose, but it’s a race, so it could be lost, which is something they didn’t feel when they left that convention in Milwaukee,” Axelrod said.