Kamala Harris details the whirlwind journey that ultimately ended in election loss in her memoir released Tuesday, “107 Days,” in which her central argument is that she could have mounted a more formidable challenge with more time and less agitation from then-President Joe Biden’s staff, who she believes was partially at fault for continuous negative news cycles.
Here are three key moments she writes about that defined those critical 107 days:
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk to an event on gun violence in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 26, 2024.
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Biden rattles Harris in predebate phone call
Harris details a head-scratching moment for her before her high stakes first — and only — debate against Donald Trump. Moments before she walked on stage, she was told that Biden had called for what she assumed was pep talk. He offered her good luck, albeit “with little warmth in his voice,” she writes, and assured her she was going to do “fine.”
She writes that Biden quickly moved on from the impending debate and asked Harris about a rumor his brother had heard that a few Philadelphia-area “power brokers” were hesitant to support her because she had been bad-mounting him privately. Biden told Harris he didn’t believe those rumors but wanted to make her aware — though she was blindsided as to why, of all times, he would reach out to bring this to her attention mere minutes before this high-pressure moment.
“I couldn’t understand why he would call me, right now, and make it all about himself. Distracting me with worry about hostile powerbrokers in the biggest city of the most important swing state.”
Harris said her husband, Doug Emhoff, noticed she was angry and disappointed at the call.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during an on camera interview on the North Lawn of the White House on July 23, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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She wanted Buttigieg as running mate and was put off by Shapiro’s ‘unrealistic expectation’
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was Harris’ “first choice” for her running mate pick, but she says he would have been ideal if she were “a straight, white man” — their compounding identities too much a liability for the American voter.
Asked about this by Politico, Buttigieg disagreed.
“I was surprised when I read that. I just believe in giving Americans more credit than that,” he said.
Harris details her expanded running mate vetting process, particularly that of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. She found Shapiro “poised, polished, and personable.” But he had an “unrealistic expectation” for the role of vice president.
“At one point, he mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision. I told him bluntly that was an unrealistic expectation. A vice president is not a copresident. I had a nagging concern that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership.”
Harris also said an aide believed Shapiro was “disappointed” with having to remain out of sight as he was transported to his vetting meeting and asked how he might borrow artwork from the Smithsonian to decorate the residence should he move in.
Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro, pushed back in a statement to ABC.
“It’s simply ridiculous to suggest that Governor Shapiro was focused on anything other than defeating Donald Trump and protecting Pennsylvania from the chaos we are living through now. The Governor campaigned tirelessly for the Harris-Walz ticket — and as he has made clear, the conclusion of this process was a deeply personal decision for both him and the Vice President,” Bonder said.
Kamala Harris appears on ABC’s “The View,” July 12, 2019.
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Harris reflects on ‘The View’ gaffe
“Everything about my appearance on The View was going well. Until it wasn’t,” claims Harris, who received a wave of criticism for saying on the program that she couldn’t think of anything she would do differently than Biden had.
She writes that she figured she was in friendly territory, with an audience she felt comfortable with and some past outside relationships with some of the cohosts. But none of her preparation with her team came to her when she was asked about what she might have done differently. Instead, she offered an answer that sunk her: “There is not a thing that comes to mind.”
“I had no idea I’d just pulled the pin on a hand grenade. I wasn’t braced for the explosion that was coming. Stationed at various places around the set, my staff were beside themselves,” she writes, adding that bite was “a gift to the Trump campaign, and they used it in ad after ad to shackle me to an unpopular president.”
After her appearance, Trump immediately lambasted her, saying she offered “her dumbest answer so far” and criticized her for “being exposed as a ‘dummy’ every time she does a show.”
