Particle.news
Download on the App Store
97 ARTICLES
·
11h ago

Buttigieg ‘Surprised’ by Harris Memoir Claim He Was Her First VP Pick, Rejected as ‘Too Risky’

Harris’s account refocuses Democrats on electability calculations over representation.

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris, right, next to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaks during a plenary session of the US-ASEAN Summit, May 13, 2022, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 06: Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the State of the People POWER Tour opening ceremony on June 6, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. The ten city State of the People POWER Tour is a national campaign aimed at ‘uniting Black communities through healing, direct relief, and power building.’ (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Image

Overview

  • Excerpts from Kamala Harris’s forthcoming memoir, 107 Days, published by The Atlantic, say Pete Buttigieg was her first choice for running mate in 2024 but that a Black woman and an openly gay man on one ticket posed “too big of a risk.”
  • Harris wrote that Buttigieg would have been an ideal partner and praised his ability to communicate with conservatives, while a person familiar with their talks said they did not discuss her reasoning.
  • Harris ultimately selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and the Harris–Walz ticket lost the 2024 election to President Donald Trump and JD Vance.
  • Buttigieg told Politico he was “surprised” by Harris’s account and urged giving Americans more credit, saying voters gauge candidates by what they will do for people’s lives rather than identity.
  • Other excerpts fault Biden’s 2024 reelection bid as “recklessness,” and the book’s Sept. 23 release is set to extend an internal Democratic debate over representation versus perceived electability.