Kamala Harris’ media blitz is doing little to temper the frustration bubbling among Democrats over her retelling of the 2024 election.
Over the last 24 hours, the former vice president insisted she isn’t burning bridges in her own party, rejected the idea that her infamous interview on “The View” tipped the 2024 election and didn’t rule out another run for political office.
“In an era where Democrats need all hands on deck in the fight to protect the country and the constitution from the lawlessness of the Trump administration, she had a real opportunity to be a critical voice in the resistance,” said Michael Hardaway, a Democratic strategist who served as a senior adviser to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “This book seems to be unhelpful and divisive in a way that makes it hard for her to be the face of the party as we look to the future.”
More than six months after her losing election — and with Harris now back in the spotlight — her book, “107 Days,” has reopened wounds in a party still divided over who or what is primarily to blame for their sweeping losses and President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Harris, for her part, argued on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday that though “there were many factors,” ultimately, “we just didn’t have enough time.”
It’s not the first time a political memoir has prompted eyerolls. Hillary Clinton’s book tour in 2017 triggered a collective groan among infuriated Democrats, including one top donor who told POLITICO at the time “she should just zip it.” Biden, struggling to sell his post-presidency legacy, is expected to release his own White House memoir. Democrats privately worry the parade of scab-picking, backward-looking books isn’t helping the party move on, especially as its brand sinks to new lows in public polling.
“At a time when people are looking for a vision and leadership ... and want to see leaders rise to the level of threat facing the country, it’s pretty crazy she chose to write a gossip book that prioritizes the pettiness of her politics,” said an adviser to a potential 2028 candidate granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “It’s embarrassing for her, and for all Democrats, considering she was the leader of the party less than a year ago.”
During her interviews this week, Harris clarified some of her more candid assessments from her book, including her decision that it would be too risky, as she wrote, to put former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig, a gay man and her preferred running mate, on a ticket headed by “a Black woman married to a Jewish man.”
“It wasn’t about any prejudice, on my part, but we had such a short period of time and the stakes were so high,” Harris told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday night. “I think America is and would be ready for that, but when I had to make that decision with two weeks to go, you know, maybe I was being too cautious … but that’s the decision I made.”
Buttigieg told POLITICO last week that he found Harris’ comments “surprising” and believes in “giving Americans more credit.”
On Biden, Harris told co-hosts of “The View” on Tuesday she has a “good relationship” with the former president, who she praised as a “highly capable president who accomplished great things.” She described her own refusal to criticize Biden in a now infamous appearance on the same show in October 2024 as “symbolic of the issue.”
“I’m a loyal person, and I didn’t fully appreciate how much people wanted to know there was a difference between me and President Biden,” she said. “I thought it was obvious, and I didn’t want to offer a difference in a way that would be received or suggested to be a criticism.”
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, Harris said she regretted not confronting Biden over his decision to run for reelection, calling it “reckless.” Harris made a similar assessment in her book, when she said “the stakes were simply too high” and it “should have been more than a personal decision” for Biden.
When asked about her own future political ambitions, the former vice president demurred, “I’m not focused on that right now, I’m really not.” A member of Harris’ inner circle told POLITICO last week that her book was not intended as a “burn the boats” exit from politics.
For some Democrats outside of Harris’ orbit, the book suggested otherwise.
“If this was intended as a campaign launch, I don’t think it got off the pad,” said David Axelrod, a longtime senior adviser to former President Barack Obama. “If it was intended as a catharsis, only she can know if it was successful.”
A former Biden and Harris campaign staffer, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, said that if voters, like those watching her round of media interviews this week, “start seeing her as a sore loser,” that’s “the risk” for her politically. Some recent public polling found the former vice president’s favorability rating has dropped since October 2024.
Harris is not without supporters. Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist who worked with Harris on her 2020 presidential campaign, praised Harris for her “speak[ing] her truth,” even though “that truth is uncomfortable for people.”
“I think if we had had more difficult conversations as a party over the last couple of years,” he said, “we would’ve been in a much stronger position to win the election last year.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/24/kamala-harris-book-tour-democrats-00577679 (Archive)
