Former Vice President Kamala Harris is setting the record straight after facing scrutiny for snubbing former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as her 2024 running mate.
In her new book, released Tuesday, Harris explained that Buttigieg was her first choice as a vice presidential contender, describing him as “an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man.” She wrote that the former official under President Joe Biden’s administration — who emerged as a rising star in the Democratic Party during the 2020 primary — led a list of eight names on her initial vetting list, The Atlantic reported last week. However, she ultimately picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) instead.
“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk,” Harris wrote in “107 Days.”
“And I think Pete also knew that—to our mutual sadness,” she added.
Buttigieg had responded to her revelation, saying that he was “surprised” to read that Harris suggested voters would not accept a gay man on the ticket.
“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,” Buttigieg told POLITICO.
“You just have to go to voters with what you think you can do for them. Politics is about the results we can get for people and not about these other things,” he continued.
When asked to elaborate on the passage by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow late Monday, Harris attempted to clarify to her comments.
“You’re the first woman elected vice president. You’re a Black woman and a South Asian woman elected to that high office, very nearly elected president. To say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay, it’s hard to hear,” Maddow said to Harris.
Harris replied: “That’s not what I said, that that’s — that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay. My point, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president of the United States, against someone like Donald Trump, who knows no floor… to be a Black woman running for president of the United States and as a vice presidential running mate a gay man, with the stakes being so high, it made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk.”
“I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community my entire life. So it wasn’t about any prejudice,” she added.
Harris went on to say that she had “such a short period of time” and “the stakes were so high.”
“I think Pete is a phenomenal, phenomenal public servant. And I think America is and would be ready for that. But when I had to make that decision with two weeks to go, and maybe I was being too cautious,” Harris said.
When Maddow asked if Harris would consider running for president again in 2028, she fired back: “That’s not my focus right now. That’s not my focus at all.”
Harris is just one of several possible Democratic contenders who have been floated as frontrunners. Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are also potential contenders for the nomination.
Stories by Rachel Cohen
Legendary investor makes dire prediction about the economy under Trump
White House press secretary directly refutes one of Trump’s long-shot claims
Trump official, accused of accepting $50,000 in cash under bribery sting, firmly responds