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Tag: Kamala Harris

  • The Emptiness of Kamala Harris

    Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

    It is hard to see what kind of political career Kamala Harris will ever have again. This makes her unique among recently vanquished major-party nominees — barring a remarkable shift in circumstances, there really is nowhere else for her to go.

    Every defeated presidential nominee, until Harris, had a place within their party after the crushing loss. Al Gore became a famed environmental activist; John Kerry enjoyed years as a senior statesman in the Obama administration; and even Hillary Clinton, who never returned to elected office or another Cabinet, hovered over the party as the martyr of 2016 — if not for the Russians or James Comey or misogyny, some liberals might say, she would have been the nation’s first female president. After 2008, John McCain returned to the Senate, and Mitt Romney, a few years later, became a senator himself.

    The media tour Harris has undertaken for her recently published memoir is a reminder that the former vice-president is going to struggle to have a place in the political firmament. She will not run for governor of California (she had no vision for the office anyway). She has mulled a 2028 presidential run, where she is no longer the polling leader. But what’s the point, really, of another presidential bid? What’s her argument? What does she have to say about this current moment, and how does she propose either defeating the MAGA movement in another election (J.D. Vance, Donald Trump running illegally) or rebuilding the nation in the aftermath of these next four years?

    Harris, from both a politics and policy standpoint, has never been a true leader of the party, and her presence now is a reminder of how badly Joe Biden’s team erred in 2020 when they picked her for the ticket. Harris had been a shambolic presidential candidate, bleeding cash and dropping out before the Iowa caucuses. There were many other more capable politicians, women especially, who could have been elevated that year. Had Harris been a stronger politician, the disastrous Biden reelection saga may not have played out like it did. An elderly, senile president could have passed the baton more easily to a capable VP who seemed ready to battle Trump again. Biden’s inner circle didn’t trust Harris, and they ended up handing her the nomination only after the infamous televised debate Biden had with Trump. Harris became the Democratic candidate without having won a single primary vote.

    Every ex–presidential candidate is free to write a memoir and make themselves heard. They are free to have regrets. The most newsy bit from Harris’s 107 Days is her confession that she would have preferred Pete Buttigieg as a running mate over Tim Walz but defaulted to the Minnesota governor because, she fretted, a Black woman paired with a gay man would have been too much of a political risk. Harris can be commended for her candor, but the decision also reveals her middling political acumen and relative gutlessness. There are homophobic voters in America, but far fewer of them than there used to be. Republicans in Congress no longer rail against same-sex marriage. Buttigieg, unlike Harris, has proved himself to be an adept enough politician, someone who ran competitively for the presidency in 2020. If Harris truly thought him the best, why not just pick him?

    The trouble for Democrats in 2024 was that they were the incumbent party in an era of high inflation, and voters blamed them for the migrant surge at the border. It was these two issues that defined the election, and Harris (and Biden) never had much of a solution for either. Her campaign was muddled, absent any greater vision for the country, and it was far easier for the average voter to know where Trump stood and what he might do than to understand, when all was said and done, what Harris wanted for the country. Warning about the dangers of MAGA — even if these warnings were correct — was never enough.

    Democrats are desperate for leaders now. It’s notable that, other than releasing her memoir, Harris has mostly removed herself from the political fray. That’s her right. But if she truly wanted, she could offer an alternative pathway for this country and a way for frustrated Democrats to feel that they are heard. Bernie Sanders will never run for president again, but he travels the country railing against oligarchy and attempting to channel the rage of the anti-Trump vote somewhere. Harris doesn’t have to do that, but she could have prescribed, in her book, a fleshed-out vision for the future of the Democratic Party or even allowed readers to imagine what a Harris administration might have been like. Harris is not alone in her failure to articulate what the near future might look like, of course. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are frustrating the base, and few of the potential 2028 candidates have offered a compelling path forward. Harris is as much symptom as she is cause, emblematic of the political failure that has made President Donald J. Trump possible.

    Ross Barkan

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  • ‘We are going to get through this moment’: Kamala Harris returns to Atlanta to talk “107 Days”

    Former United States Vice President Kamala Harris on stage at the Tabernacle on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Former United States Vice President Kamala Harris was back in Atlanta on Wednesday night. Harris, who also served as the former Attorney General of California and United States Senator, was on her tour for her latest book, “107 Days.” The book is a diary-like rehashing of her historical presidential run that ended with a loss to the current President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. 

    The line outside the Tabernacle was reminiscent of the lines outside the many arenas, stadiums, and event spaces in Georgia that Harris spoke at during her campaign. The line stretched down Luckie Street and around the corner. It was clear that Harris remained popular in Atlanta.

    Upon taking the stage, Harris, in one of her signature looks, a pant suit, said, “It’s good to be back in the ATL.”  

    The evening’s moderator was social media influencer and Spelman College alumna, Lynae Vanee. 

    There was a long line outside the Tabernacle hours before the ‘107 Days’ book tour event was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Harris’s 107-day campaign was self-described as “American history.” By the looks and sounds of the capacity crowd in attendance, it has left an indelible mark on Georgians. Between applause and laughter from the crowd, Harris retold stories from her book and acknowledged that she had her toughest day at the end of the campaign on Election Day.

    “It took a lot of time for me to think, reflect, and feel,” said Harris of her new post-election reality. “Writing this book was part of what helped me do that.”

    On more than one occasion, Trump was mentioned by name and in jest. On one more serious note, Harris said of the current administration’s actions towards immigrants, for example, “I predicted all of this.”

    That comment was followed by loud applause. 

    “When this is over, meaning his presidency, there will be a lot of debris,” she added. 

    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    During the conversation, Harris discussed portions of the book, including the pages in which she invited Megan Thee Stallion to perform at a campaign event at the Georgia State University Convocation Center. Harris got pushback from people who supported her and Megan, but thought the rapper wasn’t a good look, Harris recalled. 

    “I did ask her to come, and I was happy to have her because she is very talented,” said Harris of the Houston-born rapper. “It wasn’t traditional, and it didn’t comport with what people thought was the norm.” 

    Nothing about Harris’s campaign was normal, and she would have Hip-Hop performers, actors, actresses, and the like make appearances on her campaign throughout the 107 days. Many of these moments are in her book. Other moments described in “107 Days” include former running mate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the vetting of a potential running mate, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, her relationship with her family, and her relationship with other people in the White House.

    With 91 days till Election Day, Harris shared the sights and sounds of the first time she and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, took the stage in Philadelphia. “The roar that met us when we walked out onstage was so deafening we could barely hear ourselves,” Harris recalled (page 100).

    In the book, Harris also reveals behind-the-scenes moments from the campaign and her relationship with former United States President Joseph R. Biden, her running mate and friend. One revelation that will get readers’ attention is the lack of support for her campaign by members of Biden’s camp (pages 40-41), and her suspicion that former First Lady Jill Biden hadn’t gotten over some of the barbs Harris and Biden exchanged during the 2019 presidential primary (page 39).

    The former vice president was reflective during her time on stage. 

    “During the 107 days I did not allow myself, nor was there any room for reflection,” Harris said of the whirlwind that was her life last year. 

    Harris also added that losing that election brought on emotions that she hadn’t felt since she lost her mother. 

    “I was grieving for our country, because I knew what was going to happen,” she said. 

    There was no grieving this evening, however. Harris was showered with applause from the start to the finish of her time on stage.

    “This is true talk right here,” she said. “It may get worse before it gets better. But we cannot afford to put the blanket over our head and say, ‘Wake me up when it’s over.’ If we give up, then all is lost. We cannot let our spirits be defeated by one election.” 

    Donnell Suggs

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  • Who Can Lead the Democrats?

    Kamala Harris almost won in 2024. So why does her new book feel like another defeat?

    Amy Davidson Sorkin

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  • Former Vice President Kamala Harris gives message of hope during book tour stop in Los Angeles

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris, before a theater full of supporters in Los Angeles, struck a tone of hope, saying that although the present time may seem dark for those gathered, it’s important to continue fighting for a better America.

    “Our spirit cannot be defeated with an election or by an individual or a circumstance. ‘Cause then they’re winning. And the fight does take a while, and we’re in it and we can’t walk away from it,” Harris said during an appearance at The Wiltern theater on Monday night, Sept. 29.

    “Know times like this require us to fight fire with fire,” the former vice president added.

    The Los Angeles event was the third stop in her multi-city tour to promote her book, “107 Days,” which was released last week. The title references the length of her unsuccessful presidential campaign last year after then-President Joe Biden ended his bid for reelection.

    Monday’s sold-out event, dubbed “A Conversation with Kamala Harris,” was moderated by Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, hosts of the podcast “I’ve Had It.”

    During the roughly hour-long conversation, Harris said she predicted most of what has occurred since President Donald Trump resumed office in January. However, she said, she did not anticipate the “capitulation” by some universities, law firms and media companies, which she felt had given in to the president’s demands.

    “I always believed that if push came to shove, the titans of industry would be among the guardians of our democracy. And I have been deeply disappointed,” she said.

    Unlike her first tour stop last week in New York City, where pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted her talk, Monday’s event was absent such interruptions.

    Instead, the few times that members of the audience yelled out, they shouted lines like, “Madame President,” and, at the end of the evening, chanted “MVP! MVP!”

    If any attendees of Monday’s event had hoped to hear Harris share her plans for the future — including whether she intends to run for president again — they left without any firm answers.

    The former vice president, who in July announced she would not mount a bid to become California’s next governor, did not offer specifics about her future plans.

    For now, Harris, who will turn 61 on Oct. 20, has 15 more speaking engagements lined up to promote her book, including stops in Houston and San Francisco this weekend. She’s scheduled to speak again at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Oct. 28.

    As of Monday, nearly all of the events, including the L.A. stop in October, were listed on the book’s website as sold out.

    Check back for updates. 

    Linh Tat

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  • 9/22: Face the Nation

    This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog joins hours after Hezbollah launched more rockets into Israel, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defenses. Plus, CBS News Director of Elections and Surveys Anthony Salvanto discusses the latest CBS News poll.

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  • The conspiracy theorists who claim Kamala Harris really won in 2024

    Election denial has lately come to be viewed as a feature of the political right, reflected by the lawsuits, conspiratorial documentaries, and “Stop the Steal” protests that followed Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election. But in the months since 2024, a similar—albeit much quieter—form of election denial has emerged in parts of the progressive left.

    These theories range from claims that Elon Musk used Starlink satellites to hack the election to a the quasi-mystical TikTok subculture known as the “4 A.M. Club,” whose members believe the timeline glitched and Kamala Harris won in a parallel reality. But the most prominent claims have been rooted in data-heavy spreadsheets and statistical jargon.

    One of the most popular of these theories suggests that a 2024 National Security Agency audit confirmed that Kamala Harris won the election, a claim which gained notoriety after it appeared in This Will Hold, an anonymously published Substack. The post alleges that one of the audit’s supposed participants, an ex-CIA officer named Adam Zarnowski, possessed insider information about a global cabal of corrupt actors, international criminals, foreign operatives, billionaires, and political insiders who conspired together to manipulate the election’s outcome.

    As The Atlantic recently reported, there is no independent verification of Zarnowski’s background beyond his own claims. A LinkedIn profile describes him as a “former CIA paramilitary operations officer” but provides no evidence that he is an expert in election security or statistics. Snopes has been unable to “independently verify Zarnowski’s employment with the CIA or his alleged involvement in [the] NSA audit.”

    The Election Truth Alliance (ETA), a self-described nonpartisan watchdog group, has used statistical models to push claims that Harris won the election. In Rockland County, New York, for example, Harris received fewer votes for president than incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) did for Senate. The ETA suggests that possible election tampering can be inferred from this discrepancy.

    But Charles Stewart, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out that this apparent discrepancy isn’t unusual and can easily be explained. Stewart attributes Harris’ weaker performance to her unpopularity among the county’s Orthodox Jewish voters relative to Gillibrand, as well as the broader trend of voters skipping races or voting split-ticket.

    The organization’s claims go further. In a recent interview with the progressive commentator David Pakman, the ETA’s Nathan Taylor claimed that vote patterns in Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania illustrate a series of unusual relationships between candidate support and voter turnout. Using color-coded heat maps, Taylor asserts that his group has discovered statistical distortions similar to those seen in countries with a reputation for fraudulent election practices, such as Russia and Uganda. Using these maps, Taylor alleges that up to 190,000 votes cast in Pennsylvania may have been algorithmically shifted, which would be more than enough to flip the state.

    To lend credibility to these claims, the ETA circulated a working paper by the University of Michigan political scientist Walter Mebane that used statistical techniques to examine Pennsylvania’s 2024 election results. Mebane told The Atlantic that while he was aware the group had used his public methodology and data models, he had not reviewed their findings and did not endorse their conclusions. 

    To this day, no court case or credible audit has validated any of these claims. Independent experts have repeatedly affirmed that the 2024 election, like the 2020 election before it, was secure and legitimate. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters in November 2024 that her office detected no threat that could “materially impact” the outcome, assuring everyone that “our election infrastructure has never been more secure” and that election officials were better prepared than ever to deliver a “safe, secure, free, and fair” process.

    Although this is hardly the first time that members of the left have questioned an election’s outcome, political scientist Justin Grimmer told The Atlantic that this behavior is also “strikingly similar” to that of those on the right who rejected the 2020 election results. “The most remarkable thing,” he added, “is the similarity in the analysis that we’re seeing from the bad claims made after 2020 and these similarly bad, really poorly set up claims from 2024.”

    David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research put it more bluntly, telling the magazine that these claims “ring as hollow and grifting as nearly identical claims made by those who profited off the Big Lie that Trump didn’t lose the 2020 election.”

    Jacob R. Swartz

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  • Harris recalls stun over Biden’s botched debate response about fallen service members in Afghanistan

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    Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed in her new political memoir, “107 Days,” that she was stunned by then-President Joe Biden’s debate response about his administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which left 13 service members dead. 

    Biden’s debate performance against Donald Trump in 2024 was viewed as an abject failure, with the Democratic president tripping over his words, losing his train of thought and displaying a raspy voice attributed to a cold during the event. 

    Harris argued that Biden whiffed an easy question on the military and omitted any acknowledgment of the 13 U.S. service members who died during the Afghanistan withdrawal. She also pointed to his claims that he was “the only president this century” and “this decade” who did not have any troops “dying anywhere in the world.” 

    KAMALA HARRIS REJECTS IDEA THAT BUNGLED ‘VIEW’ INTERVIEW WAS TIPPING POINT IN CAMPAIGN

    Harris in her book, however, identified those who were killed as “13 marines,” — except it was not all Marines who died during the withdrawal. Eleven Marines, one soldier and one Navy corpsman were killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul Airport’s Abbey Gate. 

    Harris explained in her book that Biden first faced a question on the economy during his debate in June 2024, which she said was rushed, with Biden showing “no light in his eyes, no expression in his voice.”

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris published a book Sept. 23, 2025, recapping her experiences on the 2024 campaign trail while also taking shots at former President Joe Biden.  (Saul Loeb/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    The next question was on the military, and included Biden omitting an acknowledgment of the horrific attack that plagued his administration as one of its greatest failures. 

    “He’s got so much material on this—Trump calling our fallen soldiers ‘suckers and losers,’” Harris wrote of what ran through her head when Biden was asked about his role as commander-in-chief. 

    KAMALA HARRIS BREAKS SILENCE ON BIDEN DROPOUT, ADMITS SHE HAS REGRETS ABOUT HER HANDLING OF SITUATION

    President Biden at debate

    President Joe Biden during his debate against President Donald Trump June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.  (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “He managed to get off that line but had stepped on it earlier by saying no one had died in wars overseas on his watch, seeming to forget the thirteen marines who died in the bomb blast at the airport during the evacuation of Afghanistan. I’d been on Air Force Two when it happened, and we had to change our flight plan to get back to DC in the face of that tragedy. How could he overlook that day?” she wrote, expressing her surprise over the response, but misidentifying those who were all killed as members of the Marines Corps. 

    “I know his deep feelings for those men and women. It’s personal to him,” she added. 

    KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS WHAT BIDEN TOLD HER JUST BEFORE CRUCIAL DEBATE WITH TRUMP THAT LEFT HER ‘ANGRY’

    Afghan Taliban

    Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Aug. 14, 2024. (Siddiqullah Alizai/The Associated Press)

    The Biden administration repeatedly came under fire for its handling of the Afghan withdrawal. It was viewed as paving the road for adversaries such as Russia to invade Ukraine, as the U.S. looked weak on the international stage, critics such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the time. The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan upon the U.S.’ withdrawal. 

    The families who lost loved ones during the botched withdrawal previously slammed Biden and Harris for their deaths, including launching a scathing defense attack against Harris when she was running for president. Parents and other loved ones claimed that the “administration killed my son” and that they “have not seen any support from you or your administration.”

    KAMALA HARRIS COMPLAINS ABOUT ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ LACK OF SUPPORT FROM BIDEN’S COMMS TEAM, INNER CIRCLE

    Biden added fuel to the fire of the botched withdrawal criticisms when he appeared on a tarmac during a dignified transfer ceremony of those killed in 2021 and was seen looking at his watch. 

    Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ office for comment on the section of the book, including a response as to why Harris stated the 13 service members were all identified as “marines,” but did not immediately receive responses. Biden’s office declined to comment. 

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House

    Then-Vice President Kamala Harris listens during an event with President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 26, 2024. (Susan Walsh, File/AP Photo)

    Harris’ book, “107 Days,” hit store shelves Tuesday and reflects on the former vice president’s truncated presidential campaign cycle after Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concern over his mental acuity. 

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    Harris is set to go on tour promoting her book in cities such as New York, San Francisco and London. 

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  • Commentary: Did Kamala Harris just destroy her 2028 chances? Is Gavin Newsom glad she did?

    Democrats, despite their hypersensitive, bleeding-heart reputation, can be harsh. Ruthless, even.

    When it comes to picking their presidential nominee, it’s often one and done. Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry were embraced and then, after leading their party to disappointing defeat, cast off like so many wads of wet tissue.

    Compare that with Republicans, who not only believe in second chances but, more often than not, seem to prefer their presidential candidates recycled. Over the last half century, all but a few of the GOP’s nominees have had at least one failed White House bid on their resume.

    The roster of retreads includes the current occupant of the Oval Office, who is only the second president in U.S. history to regain the perch after losing it four years prior.

    Why the difference? It would take a psychologist or geneticist to determine if there’s something in the minds or molecular makeup of party faithful, which could explain their varied treatment of those humbled and vanquished.

    Regardless, it suggests the blowback facing Kamala Harris and the campaign diary she published last week is happening right on cue.

    And it doesn’t portend well for another try at the White House in 2028, should the former vice president and U.S. senator from California pursue that path.

    The criticism has come in assorted flavors.

    Joe Biden loyalists — many of whom were never great fans of Harris — have bristled at her relatively mild criticisms of the obviously aged and physically declining president. (She leaves it to her husband, former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, to vent about the “impossible, s— jobs” Harris was given and, in spite of that, the failure of the president and first lady to defend Harris during her low points.)

    The notable lack of self-blame has rankled other Democrats. Aside from some couldas and shouldas, Harris largely ascribes her defeat to insufficient time to make her case to voters — just 107 days, the title of her book — which hardly sits well with those who feel Harris squandered the time she did have.

    More generally, some Democrats fault the former vice president for resurfacing, period, rather than slinking off and disappearing forever into some deep, dark hole. It’s a familiar gripe each time the party struggles to move past a presidential defeat; Hillary Clinton faced a similar backlash when she published her inside account after losing to Donald Trump in 2016.

    That critique assumes great masses of voters devour campaign memoirs with the same voracious appetite as those who surrender their Sundays to the Beltway chat shows, or mainline political news like a continuous IV drip.

    They do not.

    Let the record show Democrats won the White House in 2020 even though Clinton bobbed back up in 2017 and, for a short while, thwarted the party’s fervent desire to “turn the page.”

    But there are those avid consumers of campaigns and elections, and for the political fiends among us Harris offers plenty of fizz, much of it involving her party peers and prospective 2028 rivals.

    Pete Buttigieg, the meteoric star of the 2020 campaign, was her heartfelt choice for vice president, but Harris said she feared the combination of a Black woman and gay running mate would exceed the load-bearing capacity of the electorate. (News to me, Buttigieg said after Harris revealed her thinking, and an underestimation of the American people.)

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, the runner-up to Harris’ ultimate vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, comes across as unseemly salivating and greedily lusting after the job. (He fired back by suggesting Harris has some splainin’ to do about what she knew of Biden’s infirmities and when she knew it.)

    Harris implies Govs. JB Pritzker and Gretchen Whitmer of Illinois and Michigan, respectively, were insufficiently gung-ho after Biden stepped aside and she became the Democratic nominee-in-waiting.

    But for California readers, the most toothsome morsel involves Harris’ longtime frenemy, Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    The two, who rose to political power in the early 2000s on parallel tracks in San Francisco, have long had a complicated relationship, mixing mutual aid with jealousy and jostling.

    In her book, Harris recounts the hours after Biden’s sudden withdrawal, when she began telephoning top Democrats around the country to lock in their support. In contrast to the enthusiasm many displayed, Newsom responded tersely with a text message: “Hiking. Will call back.”

    He never did, Harris noted, pointedly, though Newsom did issue a full-throated endorsement within hours, which the former vice president failed to mention.

    It’s small-bore stuff. But the fact Harris chose to include that anecdote speaks to the tetchiness underlying the warmth and fuzziness that California’s two most prominent Democrats put on public display.

    Will the two face off in 2028?

    Riding the promotional circuit, Harris has repeatedly sidestepped the inevitable questions about another presidential bid.

    “That’s not my focus right now,” she told Rachel Maddow, in a standard-issue non-denial denial. For his part, Newsom is obviously running, though he won’t say so.

    There would be something operatic, or at least soap-operatic, about the two longtime competitors openly vying for the country’s ultimate political prize — though it’s hard to see Democrats, with their persistent hunger for novelty, turning to Harris or her left-coast political doppelganger as their savior.

    Meantime, the two are back on parallel tracks, though seemingly headed in opposite directions.

    While Newsom is looking to build Democratic bridges, Harris is burning hers down.

    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • Kamala Harris disparages Washington Post, LA Times over non-endorsements in 2024

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    Former Vice President Kamala Harris called out The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times in her new book, “107 Days,” over their refusal to endorse a presidential candidate in 2024. 

    “The Los Angeles Times, my hometown newspaper, published its electoral endorsements,” she wrote, recalling the Oct. 14 piece published by the paper. “The very first line of the article stated: ‘It’s no exaggeration to say this may be the most consequential election in a generation.’ But there was no mention of the most consequential race of all.”

    The LA Times, owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong, declined to endorse a presidential candidate and The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, followed suit. 

    “The pre-capitulation of these powerful billionaires alarmed and dispirited me. As it turned out, they were early adopters of the feckless posture that would be embraced by a raft of business leaders and institutions once Trump was elected. They’d just been the first in line to grovel,” Harris wrote after noting the Post’s non-endorsement and in reference to President Donald Trump’s eventual election victory. 

    WASHINGTON POST UNION, STAFFERS REVOLT OVER DECISION NOT TO ENDORSE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, BLAME BEZOS

    Jeff Bezos takes the stage during the New York Times annual DealBook summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 4, 2024, in New York City. Kamala Harris speaks onstage during the HumanX AI Conference 2025 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas on March 09, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong during an event on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in El Segundo, California.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference; Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

    Harris’s new book was released on Tuesday and recounts her historically short presidential campaign that followed former President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the race.

    The LA Times announced in late October the editorial board wouldn’t be endorsing a candidate for the first time since 2008. As a result, the paper’s editorials editor Mariel Garza resigned over what she alleges was the owner’s decision not to endorse Harris. 

    The LA Times told Fox News Digital, “an endorsement by the Los Angeles Times is an important decision that can influence a large number of voters. After thoughtful consideration, the owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, could not endorse Vice President Harris, based on the record of the Biden Administration and her own track record. Competence matters!”

    The Post announced days later that the editorial board would not be endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 election or any future presidential election.

    William Lewis, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, called the decision at the time “a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions — whom to vote for as the next president.”

    BEFORE NON-ENDORSEMENT DECISION, WASHINGTON POST CALLED TRUMP ‘DREADFUL’ AND ‘WORST PRESIDENT OF MODERN TIMES’

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Emerge 20th Anniversary Gala in San Francisco, California, on April 30, 2025. (CAMILLE COHEN/AFP via Getty Images)

    The paper has only endorsed Democratic presidential candidates, except in 1988 when it declined to endorse Democrat Michael Dukakis.

    The Washington Post did not immediately return a request for comment.

    USA Today and The Minnesota Star Tribune also declined to endorse a presidential candidate in the 2024 election.

    Harris quoted former Washington Post editor Marty Baron’s reaction to the paper’s non-endorsement in her book, “This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

    Vice President Kamala Harris

    Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

    Harris also highlighted Alexandra Petri, who now writes for The Atlantic but previously served as a political humor columnist at the Post.

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    “But if I were the paper, I would be a little embarrassed that it has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to make our presidential endorsement. I will spare you the suspense: I am endorsing Kamala Harris for president, because I like elections and want to keep having them,” Petri wrote at the time.

    Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.

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  • Obama, Pelosi, other top Dems resisted instant Harris endorsement citing need to ‘earn it,’ ‘hiking’ excuse

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    Top Democrats stretching from former President Barack Obama to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi resisted giving former Vice President Kamala Harris their full public endorsements in the immediate fallout of then-President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, according to Harris’ memoir detailing her 107-day presidential campaign against President Donald Trump. 

    Harris recounted that after Biden dropped out of the race via a message posted to X on the afternoon of July 21, 2024, she made phone calls to top Democrats to feel out their endorsements. A handful offered their support right off the bat, she said, with former President Bill Clinton, for example, telling Harris he was “relieved” that Biden dropped out and called on her to, “Send me anywhere. Make this your own campaign.”

    Others, however, never got back to her or resisted offering her their support when she initially asked. 

    Harris shared her “notes of the calls” in her book, “107 Days,” which hit bookshelves Tuesday. 

    KAMALA HARRIS BREAKS SILENCE ON BIDEN DROPOUT, ADMITS SHE HAS REGRETS ABOUT HER HANDLING OF SITUATION

    Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters after delivering remarks at a church service at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, Nov. 3, 2024, in Detroit.  (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)

    “Saddle up! Joe did what I hoped he would do. But you have to earn it,” Obama said when Harris spoke to him, according to the book. “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.” 

    Pelosi said the nomination process should have included a primary style process, “not an anointment.”

    HARRIS TAPS DEM EMAILS LISTS TO MARKET NEW BOOK, SPARKING PARTY NEUTRALITY CONCERNS

    “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,” she told Harris, according to the former VP’s notes of the conversations. 

    Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a rally in Las Vegas

    Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a rally at Cheyenne High School on October 19, 2024 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

    Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who has found himself in Trump’s political crosshairs in 2025, reportedly told Harris: “You’ve been loyal. I respect that.”

    Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders reportedly advised Harris avoid an overwhelming focus on abortion in his response to Harris. 

    BIDEN TEAM IS READY TO DROP DIRT ON HARRIS IF SHE COMES AFTER HIM, MARK HALPERIN SAYS

    “I supported Joe because he was the strongest voice for the working class,” he said, according to the memoir.  “Please focus on the working class, not just on abortion.”  

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom with two American flags in the background.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a bill signing event related to redrawing the state’s congressional maps on August 21, 2025 in Sacramento, California. Newsom’s office said Trump is ‘attacking kids’ safety and health’ when asked about inclusion of high school trans athlete AB Hernandez. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    A trio of high-profile Democrat governors also resisted giving Harris their endorsement, either ghosting Harris or noting concerns of timing over their endorsement. 

    “Hiking. Will call back. (He never did.)” Harris wrote of her conversation with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the top leader of her home state. 

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker cited the Democratic National Committee, which was held in Chicago that year, as to why he could not offer her an endorsement.

    “As governor of Illinois, I’m the convention host. I can’t commit,” Pritzker said. 

    KAMALA HARRIS TO PUBLISH BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF FAILED 2024 CAMPAIGN

    “I believe you’ll win, but I need to let the dust settle, talk to my colleagues before I make a public statement,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, according to Harris’ memoir. 

    Kamala Harris looking at Joe Biden during a press event in 2024

    US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, watches as President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Russia freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as well as jailed Kremlin critics in the largest prisoner exchange with the West in decades, in return for a prized assassin sought by President Vladimir Putin. Photographer: Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Harris said she went from “call to call with the clarity that comes when stakes are high, stress is through the roof, and there’s zero ambiguity.”

    “Some people I called would offer me support and then ask, ‘What do you think the process should be?’” she continued, before bucking any floated ideas of a primary race. 

    “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them,” she said. “How much more time would it have taken to pull that off?” 

    Other high-profile Democrats offered their full endorsements to Harris, including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who offered to hop on an Amtrak ride to help her out. 

    “We’re thrilled the president endorsed you. We’ll do whatever we can—we’ll jump on a plane, we’ll get on Amtrak. I want to be part of your war council,” Hillary Clinton told Harris, according to Harris’ memoir. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Harris’ highly anticipated book follows a handful of other political memoirs on the wild 2024 election race, which was underscored by mounting concerns over Biden’s mental acuity before he ultimately dropped out of the race — leaving Harris with just more than 100 days of campaigning to defeat Trump. 

    The former vice president is set to begin a book tour across the nation upon the release of the memoir. 

    Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning reached out to the respective offices of the top Democrats cited in the book for comment, including Newsom, Barack Obama, Pelosi, Whitmer, Sanders and Pritzker. 

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  • Kamala Harris breaks silence on Biden dropout, admits she has regrets about her handling of situation

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    Former Vice President Kamala Harris broke her silence on the chaos following former President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race just three and a half months before Election Day.

    Harris previewed her upcoming book “107 Days” with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Monday night describing Biden’s move as “recklessness” and admits she has regrets about not pushing him harder to reconsider.

    “So when I write this, it’s because I realize that I have and had a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on,” Harris told Maddow. “So when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I’m talking about myself. There was so much at stake, and at the time I worried it would come off as being completely self-serving.”

    Then-Vice President Kamala Harris gives remarks alongside then-President Joe Biden on Aug. 15, 2024, in Largo, Maryland.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS WHAT BIDEN TOLD HER JUST BEFORE CRUCIAL DEBATE WITH TRUMP THAT LEFT HER ‘ANGRY’

    The comments marked the first time Harris has publicly admitted doubts about how she handled the political earthquake.

    Harris says the decision left her with just over 100 days to strategize and face off against President Donald Trump.  She says the scenario was “unprecedented.”

    Her last-minute entry left Democrats scrambling while Trump had been building his war chest for months and hammering down his opponent on the campaign trail.

    Vice President Kamala Harris introduces President Joe Biden during a campaign rally at Girard College

    Vice President Kamala Harris introduces President Joe Biden during a campaign rally at Girard College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 29, 2024.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

    KAMALA HARRIS ADMITS THERE ARE THINGS SHE WOULD’VE DONE DIFFERENTLY IN 2024, FAILS TO ELABORATE

    She recalled how “people who seemingly had nothing in common came together by the thousands with an A-level of optimism and, dare I say, joy about the possibilities for America.”

    Critics among her own political party questioned whether she could unite Democrats and win over independents with so little time left.

    Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend the 9/11 Memorial ceremony

    Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Democratic presidential nominee former vice president Kamala Harris, former president Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.  (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

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  • Kamala Harris Directly Asked if She Supports Zohran Mamda…

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani during a Monday night interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, potentially further boosting the democratic socialist assemblyman’s campaign.

    The endorsement comes as Mamdani’s chances have surged to 85 percent on prediction markets as of last week, as recent polling shows commanding leads over his opponents ahead of the November 4 general election.

    Newsweek reached out to Mamdani’s office via email on Monday for comment.

    Why It Matters

    Harris’ endorsement represents a potential lift for Mamdani’s campaign amid ongoing divisions within the Democratic Party over his candidacy.

    The former vice president’s support contrasts with the reluctance of key Democratic leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, who have remained neutral.

    What To Know

    On Maddow’s eponymous The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, the host directly asked Harris if she endorsed Mamdani’s candidacy. Harris responded: “Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported.”

    The former vice president went on to pivot the discussion to lesser-known Democratic leaders running in other mayoral campaigns, including state Representative Barbara Drummond of Alabama and Helena Moreno of New Orleans.

    Mamdani’s campaign has gained significant momentum following Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to remain in the race, which paradoxically boosted the assemblyman’s chances from 79.7 percent to 85 percent on Polymarket prediction markets. Polling data reveals Mamdani’s dominance across multiple surveys conducted in early September, consistently showing double-digit leads over his closest rival, former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

    Five major polls demonstrate Mamdani’s commanding position. A CBS News/YouGov poll showed him leading 43 percent to Cuomo’s 28 percent, while a Marist survey recorded a 45 percent to 24 percent advantage. Quinnipiac University’s poll gave Mamdani a 22-point lead at 45 percent to 23 percent and an Emerson College poll showed 43 percent to 28 percent. The New York Times/Siena poll recorded Mamdani at 46 percent versus Cuomo’s 24 percent.

    However, when hypothetical head-to-head matchups remove Adams from the equation, Mamdani’s lead narrows significantly in some scenarios. While maintaining substantial advantages in most polls, the gap tightens to as little as 4 points in the Times/Siena survey, suggesting Cuomo could absorb anti-Mamdani votes in a more consolidated field.

    New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs announced he would not endorse Mamdani, citing fundamental disagreements over policy approaches and specifically opposing his views on Israel. Jacobs said he “strongly disagree[s] with his views on the State of Israel” and rejects “the platform of the so-called ‘Democratic Socialists of America.’”

    Despite calls from President Donald Trump for candidates to consolidate against Mamdani, both Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa have refused to exit the race. Adams spokesperson Todd Shapiro emphatically denied rumors earlier this month of the mayor’s withdrawal, saying Adams “is in this race to win it,” with more than 20 events scheduled and multiple fundraisers planned.

    What People Are Saying

    Maddow, during the interview: “Arguably the fastest rising star right now in Democratic politics is Zohran Mamdani who is going to be elected mayor of New York City, and, um, probably in a landslide, if the polls are anything to go by. Lots of mainline Democrats have been very shy about his candidacy.”

    Jacobs: “Mr. Mamdani and I are in agreement that America’s greatest problem is the continued growth in income disparity in our nation. On how to address it–we fundamentally disagree.”

    Trump, on Truth Social: “Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has Endorsed the ‘Liddle’ Communist,’ Zohran Mamdani, running for Mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City.”

    Independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont: “The oligarchs are panicking. They will spend as much as it takes to try to defeat Zohran Mamdani. They’ve got the money. We’ve got the people.”

    What Happens Next?

    With less than six weeks until the general election, the focus shifts to whether Harris’ endorsement will encourage Democratic leaders to follow suit and publicly support Mamdani.

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  • Elon Musk resurfaces Harris’s old call to suspend Trump from Twitter platform amid Kimmel controversy

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    Elon Musk resurfaced former Vice President and former Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ years-old call for President Donald Trump’s ban from social media as she claims “free speech” concerns over Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air.

    Harris has weighed in on Disney’s decision to pull ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely,” defending Kimmel and slamming what she calls an “outright abuse of power” by the Trump administration.

    “What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power. This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out. Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats,” Harris wrote on X about Kimmel’s suspension. “We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech. We, the people, deserve better.”

    Many X users, including Musk, the platform’s owner, were quick to point out Harris’ own past statements, some suggested they appeared to support censorship.

    Musk resurfaced a 2019 tweet by Harris when Trump was serving his first time. Harris, a U.S. senator representing California at the time, was running for vice president when she made the post on X, now Twitter. 

    “Look let’s be honest, @realDonaldTrump’s Twitter account should be suspended,” Harris wrote on Sept. 30, 2019. 

    DISNEY’S JIMMY KIMMEL BENCHING PROMPTS CELEBRATION, BUT ALSO CAUTION, FROM CONSERVATIVES

    Jimmy Kimmel, left, was pulled from ABC over his remarks on Charlie Kirk. (Melissa Majchrzak/AFP via Getty Images; Michael Le Brecht/Disney via Getty Images)

    Musk re-posted the message on Friday, adding a thinking face emoji. 

    Kimmel’s show was pulled after he accused conservatives of reaching “new lows” in trying to pin a left-wing ideology on Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, even though prosecutors reaffirmed those ties in an indictment.

    “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said, sparking outrage.

    There have been several questions about the role the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) played in the suspension. Those questioning the move are on both sides of the aisle, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warning conservatives that they “will regret” setting the precedent.

    “What he is saying is Jimmy Kimmel was lying. That’s true, he was lying, and lying to the American people is not in the public interest,” Cruz said on an episode of his podcast. “He threatens explicitly — we’re going to cancel ABC News’ license. We’re going to take him off the air, so ABC cannot broadcast anymore … He threatens it.”

    CRUZ WARNS CONSERVATIVES ‘WILL REGRET’ FCC CENSORSHIP PUSH AGAINST ABC, OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS

    Protesters outside Walt Disney Studios

    Around 200 protesters lined up outside of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California to rail against Disney’s suspension of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday evening. (Christina House / Getty)

    FCC Chairman Brendan Carr joined Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Sept. 17, the day the suspension was announced, and defended the move.

    “Broadcasters are different than any other form of communication,” Carr said, pointing to affiliate groups like Nexstar and Sinclair that announced they would no longer carry “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He argued that local stations acted appropriately, saying they were “standing up to serve the interests of their community.” 

    “Over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation,” Carr said. “I don’t think we’re better off as a country for it.”

    FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CARR DEFENDS ABC AFFILIATES PULLING JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW AFTER MONOLOGUE ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK

    Former VP Kamala Harris, Jimmy Kimmel, Elon Musk

    Elon Musk resurfaced a 2019 tweet in which then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., urged Twitter to take down President Donald Trump’s account. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Saturday that the decision to “fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC.”

    “That has now been reported,” Leavitt said. “And I can assure you it did not come from the White House and there was no pressure given from the president of the United States.” 

    The Biden-Harris administration has seen its share of censorship controversies, particularly in its interactions with social media companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    During a 2021 press conference, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration was “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    In August 2024, just ahead of the presidential election, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a letter that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor Americans.

    Zuckerberg made the admission in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, more than a year after providing the committee with thousands of documents as part of its investigation into content moderation on online platforms.

    Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

    Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

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  • Kamala Harris’s Book Shows She Still Doesn’t Understand Why She Lost

    The lost opportunity.
    Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

    Kamala Harris’s memoir about the 2024 presidential campaign, 107 Days, is being released next week. The emerging theme from the excerpts and leaks is that the former vice-president feels snakebit. The title of the book illustrates her complaint that Joe Biden’s reluctance to step aside forced her into a too-brief campaign in which the 46th president’s legacy and continuing interference were insurmountable problems.

    The latest take on the book from the Washington Post suggests that to this day Harris doesn’t understand exactly why she lost, or what she might have done differently, particularly with respect to the living ghost of Joe Biden, which haunted her campaign to the very bitter end. Most interestingly, she talks about what many of us consider the great lost opportunity of her general-election campaign, an October 8 appearance on The View:

    When she went on “The View” on Oct. 8, Harris was asked what, if anything, she would have done differently than Biden over the past four years. She responded, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” The former vice president describes that response as having “pulled the pin on a hand grenade.”

    Still, Harris defends her actions against her critics who said she should have done more to distance herself from Biden, saying she did not “want to embrace the cruelty of my opponent.” She also argues that naming one specific policy difference would have created a “backward-looking rather than forward-looking” conversation and “would have limited the definition of the difference between us to that one thing, rather than my unique perspective on a variety of issues.”

    Harris reports that her campaign staff knew her answer to the “What you would have done differently” question was a disaster. But she can’t seem to think of anything else she could have done:

    In hindsight, Harris writes, she wishes she’d said that, unlike Biden, she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.

    She actually did make that pledge later in her appearance of The View. It speaks volumes about her sense of imprisonment (or her timidity) that this sort of empty gesture toward bipartisanship was the best she could come up with — then or now — as a declaration of independence from her highly unpopular boss.

    Harris could have — should have — shown some public awareness of the need to improve on the Biden administration’s handling of the two issues that were simply killing her campaign: inflation and immigration. Instead, she made the perpetual error that seems to be a systemic problem for Democrats, seeking to evade difficult issues and change the subject to something else. Yes, being Joe Biden’s vice-president made it difficult for Harris to clearly signal how she’d be different aside from her age and identity. But it’s been done before. In October 1968, at almost the exact same stage of his own presidential campaign, the sitting vice-president, Hubert Humphrey, broke with his all-powerful boss, Lyndon Johnson, on the top issue of the day, the Vietnam War, and it took his left-for-dead candidacy to within an eyelash of victory. Considering she was in a much better position than Humphrey was and facing an opponent even less popular than Richard Nixon, Harris could have changed history.

    As my then-colleague Jonathan Chait observed even before she flubbed the key question of the campaign on The View, Harris had more control over her destiny than she seems to imagine:

    The vice-president has no constitutional power. If the president wants to do something Harris doesn’t like, Harris can’t stop him. She is therefore not responsible for any policies she doesn’t wish to associate herself with.

    The vice-presidency is a strange office, lacking any formal authority. Its inhabitants have generally lamented the powerlessness of the job. Harris really ought to stop thinking about her position as a confining dilemma and realize that it is a liberating opportunity to define her campaign as whatever she wants it to be, unburdened by what has been.

    Yes, Harris had a difficult task under extraordinary circumstances. But she played it safe when the political climate dictated some risk-taking. Learning now how trapped she felt makes me sympathize with her as a person but not as the leader of a party that needs bolder leadership than she was able to provide when the country needed it most.


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    Ed Kilgore

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  • Josh Shapiro and Pete Buttigieg respond to revelations from Kamala Harris’s book

    Josh Shapiro has said Kamala Harris will “have to answer” for why she did not publicly alert people to Joe Biden’s declining ability to serve during his term in the White House.

    The Democratic Pennsylvania governor was a candidate to become Harris’s running mate when she replaced Biden as the Democratic party nominee for president late in the 2024 campaign after the president dropped his re-election bid, but narrowly lost out to Minnesota governor Tim Walz – whom Harris dishes on in her new book.

    Shapiro is also regarded as a potential 2028 candidate for the White House.

    Shapiro’s remark came when he was asked by Stephen A Smith on a political podcast about Harris’ memoir 107 Days, published next week but already seen by the Guardian. In that book she draws a distinction between Biden’s ability to govern and to campaign for reelection – and that she had concerns over the later.

    Related: ‘Angry and disappointed’: Kamala Harris critical of Joe Biden in new book

    Harris also said that Biden’s decision to run for a second term, only turning over the Democratic candidacy after a disastrous TV debate with Donald Trump, was based in “recklessness. The stakes were simply too high.”

    Shapiro said he has not read Harris’s account, but added: “She’s going to have to answer to how she was in the room and yet never said anything publicly.”

    Shapiro was asked how Americans should feel “when we hear something that we suspected but wasn’t acknowledged by politicians who were looking for our support, and then we find out later we were right, and they should have spoken up, and they should have shown more courage”.

    Shapiro said that while he wasn’t present for White House discussions, he looked at the 2024 race from the perspective of Pennsylvania, which Biden ultimately lost.

    “If you can’t win Pennsylvania, it’s pretty darn hard to win the national election,” Shapiro continued. “And I was very vocal with him, privately, and extremely vocal with his staff about my concerns about his fitness to be able to run for another term. I was direct with them. I told them my concerns.”

    In the book, Harris questions her decision to not confront Biden, explaining that “of all the people in the White House, I was in the worst position to make the case that he should drop out” and feared that, if she did, it would be seen as “incredibly self-serving” and “poisonous disloyalty”.

    In Harris’ account she writes that Shapiro, before she’d interviewed him, had asked how many bedrooms were in the vice-president’s residence and if the Smithsonian would lend Pennsylvania art for display.

    Harris writes that she “mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision” and told him that was “an unrealistic expectation” and “a vice-president is not a co-president.”

    Harris also writes about her consideration of Pete Buttigieg, saying that he would have been “the ideal partner” as her running mate if he had been “a straight white man”.

    “I had nagging concerns that, of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” Harris writes. Then adding a gay man to the ticket: “It was too big a risk.”

    Buttigieg – who, like Shapiro, Harris and Gavin Newsom, the California governor, are considered likely 2028 candidates – told Politico that he was “surprised” to read the passage from the book suggesting that, as a gay man, he was too risky.

    “My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you’re going to do for their lives, not on categories,” he said. “I wouldn’t have run for president [in 2020] if I didn’t believe that.

    On countering Trump, Shapiro said:

    “Some people would say that the only way to deal with it is to fight fire with fire, to replicate his behavior to some degree,” Shapiro said, “just to be able to fend off the onslaught of momentum he appears to be building as his presidency continues.”

    But Shapiro pointed to his own election victories in Pennsylvania, winning by “bringing Republicans and Democrats and independents together”.

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  • Kamala Harris reveals what Trump said to her after she conceded election

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed details of a phone conversation she held with President Donald Trump after conceding the 2024 presidential election.

    Newsweek reached out to the White House via email Thursday night for comment.

    Why It Matters

    Harris’ concession, her phone call with Trump and the new memoir carry political and historical significance.

    The book documents the end of a 107-day campaign that placed the sitting vice president atop the Democratic ticket after former President Joe Biden withdrew, and offers an inside account of strategic decisions that shaped the race—notably Harris’ choice of running mate and calculations on electability and coalition-building.

    These decisions, and how she recounts them, could shape how Democrats assess strategy moving forward.

    What To Know

    According to excerpts reviewed by The New York Times, Harris said that during her concession phone call, she asked Trump to help bring the country together but knew in the moment it was “a lost cause.”

    According to the Times, Trump said, “I am going to be so nice and respectful.”

    “You are a tough, smart customer, and I say that with great respect. And you also have a beautiful name. I got use of that name, it’s Kamala,” Trump said, per the Times.

    Harris said that Trump also pronounced her name correctly on the call after mispronouncing it while campaigning, the outlet added.

    The former vice president also highlighted her selection of a running mate, saying she felt the world was not ready for a Black woman and a gay man on one ticket, so she did not choose former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    “He would have been an ideal partner,” Harris wrote, “if I were a straight white man. But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk,” per an excerpt reported by the Times.

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Emerge 20th Anniversary Gala in San Francisco on April 30. (Photo by CAMILLE COHEN/AFP via Getty Images)

    What People Are Saying

    Conservative commentator Scott Jennings, on X Thursday: “Kamala Harris claims she couldn’t pick Pete Buttigieg as her VP because he’s gay, so she settled for buffoon Tim Walz. So to her, being gay is a bigger liability than endorsing taxpayer-funded sex changes for minors?! This logic is incoherent. Voters made the right choice.”

    This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.

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  • Colorado voters are dissatisfied with Democrats. Polis, Hickenlooper and Bennet can’t hide (Editorial)

    Americans are recoiling from the Democratic Party, and even in blue states like Colorado, Democrats are feeling the burn.

    With Republicans fielding the best candidate for governor they’ve had in a decade – Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer – liberal politicians would be wise to address the root causes of this dissatisfaction publicly, frequently and head-on. The reality is that Americans are struggling — our politics are becoming more violent, everything is more expensive, and the job market is tightening.

    After years of enjoying popularity, Colorado’s top Democrats are now showing a remarkable drop in their approval ratings among voters. President Donald Trump remains deeply unpopular in the state, but Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper are failing to break a 50% approval rating, meaning more of those asked than not said they were unhappy with the politicians’ work.

    These results from a poll conducted in early August of 1,136 registered Colorado voters by Magellan Strategies mirror what we are seeing across the nation. Americans are dissatisfied.

    According to a New York Times analysis of available voter registration numbers, the Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters across the board and particularly in swing states. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is gaining voters after years of losses.

    Part of the shift is voters simply changing their affiliation to unaffiliated, but the Magellan Poll clearly indicates that there is more afoot than voters just looking to participate in open primaries.

    Magellan, a conservative-leaning Colorado firm, found that among voters who supported Kamala Harris in 2024, 47% have unfavorable opinions of the Democratic Party.

    To be clear, voters who were polled still said they were more likely to support a Democrat for governor next year. Only 38% of those polled said they would likely support a Republican for governor. Kirkmeyer has an uphill battle to be certain, but her opponents are weakened.

    We’d hazard a guess that the non-existent Democratic primary in 2023 to challenge a sitting president who was showing cognitive decline while in office is part of the reason voters are upset. It will take time for voters to forgive – and no one will ever forget – the disastrous presidential debate.

    But national politics can’t take all the blame.

    Gov. Jared Polis has served almost eight years in office and 52% of voters told pollsters that they had an unfavorable opinion of his work, and 35% strongly disapprove. That is softened only by the fact that 56% of voters polled strongly disapproved of the job President Donald Trump is doing, but Colorado has rejected Trump three times in general elections and the Republican Party rejected him in the 2016 caucus.

    U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is doing slightly better with 44% of voters reporting disapproval of him, and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper was at 49%.

    Bennet is going to face Attorney General Phil Weiser in the Democratic Primary for governor. Weiser wasn’t included in the poll and neither were any of the Republican candidates.

    The bottom line is that Democrats cannot spend this election talking about Donald Trump, and pretending that voters don’t have real concerns about the governance of both political parties. Voters may still put many or even most Democrats into office, but if the party wants to recover, its top leaders must start this election cycle with something more than fear and loathing.

    The Denver Post Editorial Board

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  • Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan joins Democratic race for Georgia governor

    Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (far left) says he isn’t afraid to “take on Trump.” The former Republican is running for governor as a Democrat. Photo by Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta Voice

    Former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan has added his name to the long list of Democrats running for the state’s top spot. Duncan will run for governor as a Democrat after years of being a highly vocal and supportive Republican.

    “As Georgia’s first Democratic governor in 28 years, I will stand up to Trump and his yes men in our state while bringing down the costs of childcare, health care, and housing so every Georgia family is in the best position possible. That’s what Georgia deserves,” Duncan said in a statement announcing his campaign that was sent to The Atlanta Voice.

    Five of the eight men and women campaigning to become Georgia’s next governor were on stage in Warner Robins on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    A falling out with the MAGA set led Duncan, 50, to change his political tune. On the Democratic ticket, he will join Georgia State Senator Jason Esteves, Georgia State Representative Derrick Jackson, former DeKalb County CEO and Georgia Labor Secretary Michael Thurmond, and Olu Brown. The latter, a preacher and educator, has no previous political experience.

    The four men of color on the list each participated in a gubernatorial forum in Warner Robins last month. Republican candidate Ken Yasger, a former United States Marine who has been vocal about his struggles with alcohol abuse, was also in attendance. Like Brown, Yasger is a political neophyte. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is also campaigning to lead the Democratic ticket next year. Bottoms was not in Warner Robins on August 20, but neither were the Republican gubernatorial candidates, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, and Georgia Lt. Governor Burt Jones. Current Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has publicly endorsed registered Republican Derek Dooley.

    Duncan is not new to campaigning in front of Democratic voters. During former United States President Kamala Harris’s historic presidential campaign, Duncan made multiple public endorsements and appearances for her campaign.


    Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Donnell began his career covering sports and news in Atlanta nearly two decades ago. Since then he has written for Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Southern Cross…
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    Donnell Suggs

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  • 9/8: Face the Nation

    This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” in the wake of a forthcoming GOP report on Afghanistan, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul discusses its findings with Margaret Brennan. Plus, Brennan speaks with former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.

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  • Kamala Harris Just Called Out Joe Biden’s ‘Ego’ & ‘Self-Serving’ Behavior—It Was ‘Recklessness’

    Kamala Harris is finally opening up about Joe Biden‘s bid for re-election in her new memoir. The book titled 107 Days
     features the former Vice President’s unfiltered thoughts about the former President’s decision.

    Harris wrote that the Biden administration had undermined her bid for the presidency in the wake of the 2024 election. The former California Attorney General had thought about recommending to Biden that he should not seek reelection, but it put her in a tough position to be his recommended successor. She called the decision, “incredibly self-serving.” “He would see it as naked ambition, perhaps as poisonous disloyalty, even if my only message was: Don’t let the other guy win,” she said.

    “‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris wrote in an excerpt published by The Atlantic. “Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”

    Related: Obama & Harris’ Relationship Takes Perplexing Turn After Report Barack ‘Did Not Want Her’ as a Presidential Nominee

    107 Days by Kamala Harris

    However, Harris did not see Biden, who was 81 at the time of re-election, as unfit to serve the country. The vice president blamed traveling for his May debate stumble. “At 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles,” she wrote. “I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser.”

    Harris also revealed that Biden’s team didn’t take salacious press stories seriously. “When the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president’s inner circle seemed fine with it,” she wrote. “Indeed, it seemed as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more.” She learned that Biden’s staff was “adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up” about her.

    107 Days chronicles Kamala Harris’ journey as the Democratic presidential candidate following Biden’s dropout all the way up to President Donald Trump’s victory in the November election. The book will be released on Sept. 23.

    Lea Veloso

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