Stress, Regrets and Other Hot Tea From Kamala Harris’ Memoir Press Tour

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is making all sorts of news this week as she promotes her new book, “107 Days,” a memoir about her historic run for the White House in 2024. Although the book just hit the shelves Tuesday (Sept. 23), it is already getting plenty of buzz for some pretty candid comments from the country’s first Black and South Asian female Vice President.

From how she really felt about President Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection to how top Democratic leaders responded to the news that she was picking up the baton after Biden dropped out of the race, the juicy stuff is covered in the new memoir. But while some of the news has Americans clutching their pearls, Harris said she wanted to write the book to make sure her perspective was etched in history.

“As history writes about that election, I felt very strongly that I wanted to make sure my voice was present in how that election is discussed and covered,” Harris said in a September 23 interview on Good Morning America.

Here are just a few of the bombs Vice President Harris has dropped as she promotes “107 Days.”

Obama Told Her to Let Biden Have His Moment

In the book, former VP Harris shares some of the notes she took when she asked top Democratic leaders to endorse her campaign, and some of the responses were pretty shocking, including those of former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who seemed to be less than enthusiastic about her jumping into the race.

Harris writes: “Barack Obama: Saddle up! Joe did what I hoped he would do. But you have to earn it. Michelle and I are supportive but not going to put a finger on the scale right now. Let Joe have his moment. Think through timing.”

“Nancy Pelosi: I’m so sad about Joe. It’s so tragic. My heart is broken. But now it’s you! It’s important there’s a process, we have a great bench. We should have some kind of primary, not an anointment.”

Election Night Was Extremely Hard On Her

Harris spent her time on the campaign trail doing everything she could to invoke joy and hope in the hearts and minds of the voters. Her “we’re not going back” slogan was meant to be a message of hope for a more inclusive America than the one her opponent was promising. But in her book, Harris writes that when she realized she’d lost the election to President Donald Trump, she grieved — not just for herself but for the entire country.

“That night, I grieved in a way that I have not since my mother died,” she said in an interview on ‘The View.” “The pain was not at all about losing a race. I knew what it was going to mean for the country. All I could say over and over again was ‘my God, my God, my God.’”  

She Has Regrets About Not Speaking Up About Biden’s Ability to Run For Reelection

In “107 Days,” Harris writes that she regrets not expressing that her concerns about former President Biden’s fitness to run for reelection, saying she kept her concerns to herself because she believed speaking out would have come across as being self-serving.

“I can only take responsibility for myself,” she said on “Good Morning America.” “And on my part, I do reflect on that and feel that there was a recklessness about not raising it with him.”

She went on that while she thinks he would have the capacity to govern, she had concerns about whether or not he had the stamina to make it through a long, difficult campaign.

But the former VP says there’s no love lost between her and Biden. Harris told the hosts of “The View” that she loves the former president, calling him a “highly capable president who accomplished great things that history will talk about.”