Kamala Harris's New Book Shows Democrats Need To Stop Making Bad Decisions Before The Midterm

Former VP Kamala Harris writes in her new book about the impossible situation she was put in during the 2024 election. Her story suggests what Democrats need to fix before the 2026 election.

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There was always a sense that the Kamala Harris who did so well when her unforeseen run for the presidency first started in 2024 had, by the end of the campaign, been dialed down.

In her new book, 107 Days, the former vice president writes that she was not allowed to shine too much because the White House thought that it would make President Biden look bad.

Harris wrote:

In Selma, Alabama, at the commemoration of Bloody Sunday, when civil-rights marchers were attacked and beaten once they’d crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I gave a strong speech on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Desperate people had been shot when they swarmed a food truck, and I spoke of families reduced to eating leaves or animal feed, women prematurely giving birth with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration. I reiterated my strong support for Israel’s security and called on Hamas to release the hostages and accept the cease-fire agreement then on the table. I also called on Israel for greater access to aid. It was a speech that had been vetted and approved by the White House and the National Security Council. It went viral, and the West Wing was displeased. I was castigated for, apparently, delivering it too well.

Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well. That given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital. It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him.

His team didn’t get it.

Harris also criticizes the idea that the decision to have Biden continue in the race should have been left only to Jill and Joe Biden. However, she rightly points out that as Biden’s likely successor, she couldn’t be the one to pressure Biden to exit the race.