Allies of President Biden are pushing back after excerpts from Kamala Harris’s upcoming memoir accused Democrats of being “reckless” in leaving the party’s nomination to Biden.
The former vice president has been working to rehabilitate her image following her defeat to President Donald Trump. Earlier this summer, she announced she would not run for California governor in 2026, saying her future, for now, lies “outside elected office.”
Still, Harris has used the memoir to cast blame for her political failures, portraying her loss as the result of party missteps rather than a flawed campaign.
“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,” Harris wrote in her book excerpt in The Atlantic. “It should have been more than a personal decision.”
Some former White House colleagues, skeptical that Harris may be positioning for another run, characterized the release of her memoir excerpts as a self-serving attempt to subtly undercut her former boss.
“No one wants to hear your pity party,” said one former staffer who spoke anonymously, Politico reported.
“I hate that we’re beating up on a man struggling with cancer, and [who] did genuinely serve our country pretty damn well, even if he made a critical error at the end,” one former Biden and Harris campaign aide said. “But maybe what is even more painful is that we needed more of this distinction and acknowledgement during the campaign. … I’m most offended by this being too little, too late.”
Another former Biden aide queried, “Why didn’t she do this during the campaign” when her “main imperative would’ve been to distance herself because there was an election going on?”
Although Harris campaigned vigorously for Biden last year, she writes in her memoir that the then-81-year-old president had “grown tired” as the race progressed. Her remarks follow earlier puzzling comments, including an interview in which she described him as “very much alive.”
The candid tone marks a departure from the deference Harris showed Biden immediately after the campaign. Some former staffers argued her differences with him should have been addressed privately, rather than aired publicly as Democrats struggle to chart a path forward.
A source close to Harris said the passages about Biden were not intended as part of a broader effort to attack him in the memoir.
“She set out to be candid in this book, whether that’s her genuine struggles with how to balance her loyal relationship with President Biden with tough political realities, or reflecting on her own missteps on the campaign trail, which I know she also writes about,” the person said. “She is being honest about her own experience.”
Biden dropped out of his reelection bid following a disastrous June 2024 debate against then-former President Donald Trump, at the urging of some top Democratic political and entertainment figures. As he did, he immediately endorsed Harris as his successor, which essentially negated any effort by the party to hold a primary during the Democratic National Convention.
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville offered blunt advice last month for Harris and her political allies: the Democratic Party wants nothing to do with them in 2028.
“Don’t be terrified,” Carville told one concerned listener to his podcast. “She wisely chose not to run for governor of California.”
Carville said flatly that Harris will not be the Democratic Party nominee in 2028.
“Anybody that had anything to do with 2024, the party wants to move on from that,” he said. “This isn’t anybody’s fault.”
“This goes to Walz, too. I wouldn’t run again,” Carville said. “If I were your friend, if I were your chief advisor, I’m doing this not from a personal standpoint, but because this is not going to be the environment where Democrats look to anybody connected to the 2024 campaign.”