Kamala Harris, the former vice president and 2024 presidential candidate, has reemerged onto the national stage with a candid new memoir and a headline-grabbing interview, offering an unvarnished look at her brief but turbulent campaign and her reflections on the state of American democracy. In her first major news interview since leaving office, Harris sat down with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on September 23, 2025, to discuss her book, 107 Days, which chronicles what she calls “the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.” The book is set for release next week and will be accompanied by a 15-city tour spanning the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, according to CNN and The Hill.
Harris’s appearance comes at a fraught moment for the Democratic Party, still reeling from the bruising 2024 election cycle and facing ongoing challenges to its unity and direction. Her memoir and interview have already sparked fierce debate—both for her frank assessments of her own choices and for her pointed criticisms of former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.
One of the most talked-about revelations from 107 Days is Harris’s retrospective on Biden’s decision to seek reelection in 2024—a move she now describes as reckless. “I realized that I have—and had—a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on,” Harris told Maddow, as cited by CNN. “And so when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I’m talking about myself.” She elaborated in her memoir, writing, “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.”
Biden’s ultimately faltering campaign, which ended after a poor performance in the first debate of 2024, opened the door for Harris to launch her own bid for the presidency. But her campaign, lasting just 107 days, was cut short by the relentless pressures of a divided electorate and a rapidly shifting political landscape. Harris recounted the whirlwind of her decision-making process, including her search for a vice presidential running mate—a process that has drawn scrutiny from both allies and critics.
In perhaps the most controversial passage of her book, Harris wrote that Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, was her first choice for running mate. However, she ultimately decided against selecting him, fearing that a ticket featuring both a Black woman and a gay man would be “too big of a risk” in a hotly contested election against Donald Trump. “We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” she wrote, as reported by The Hill. “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.”
Pressed by Maddow, who is gay, about whether this reasoning implied prejudice, Harris pushed back. “No, no, no, that’s not what I said,” she insisted on MSNBC, according to CNN. “With the stakes being so high, it made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk… It wasn’t about any prejudice on my part, but that we 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—you know, and maybe I was being too cautious.” Buttigieg himself responded to the book’s release by telling Politico, “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.”
Harris ultimately chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. She also described her interactions with other potential candidates, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. In her memoir, Harris recounted that Shapiro seemed more interested in the trappings of the vice presidency than in helping her win, recalling how he questioned an aide about what art pieces he could use to decorate the vice president’s residence. Shapiro shot back on Stephen A. Smith’s SiriusXM show, saying, “I haven’t read the former vice president’s book,” but adding that Harris “will have to answer how she was in the room and yet never said anything publicly” about Biden’s candidacy. Shapiro emphasized that he had been “very vocal” with Biden’s staff about concerns over Biden’s fitness to run for another term.
The memoir also offers a glimpse into Harris’s relationships with other Democratic leaders. She recounted a humorous exchange with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who, when asked for his endorsement, replied that he was hiking and never called back. Harris noted, “Gavin has a great sense of humor, so he is going to be fine.” She also weighed in on California’s Proposition 50, a measure to redraw congressional districts in response to Texas’s mid-decade redistricting. Harris argued that Democrats “tend to play by the rules. But I think this is a moment where you got to fight fire with fire.”
Harris’s interview was not limited to Democratic infighting. She directed sharp criticism at President Donald Trump, labeling him a “tyrant” and warning about the dangers of unchecked executive power. “Right now we are dealing with, as I called him at my speech on the Ellipse, a tyrant,” she said on MSNBC, according to CNN. “We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That’s what we’re dealing with right now, Donald Trump, and these titans of industry are not speaking up.” She accused Trump of using the federal government to punish critics and install loyalists as U.S. attorneys to prosecute opponents.
Harris also weighed in on the recent controversy surrounding ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, which followed a remark about MAGA’s efforts to define the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The Walt Disney Co. announced Kimmel’s return after public backlash and a warning from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Harris praised the decision, stating, “Talk about the power being with the people and the people making that clear with their checkbooks as it relates to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. We saw the power of the people over the last few days, and it spoke volumes, and it moved a decision in the right direction.”
On the question of her own political future, Harris was circumspect. Asked whether she would consider another run for the presidency in 2028, she replied, “That’s not my focus right now. It’s not my focus at all. I know—it really isn’t.” She also offered cautious support for Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, emphasizing her general support for the party’s candidate while highlighting rising stars in other cities.
With 107 Days, Harris has reignited conversations about leadership, representation, and the challenges facing American democracy. Her willingness to confront difficult truths—about herself, her party, and the nation—has set the stage for a new chapter in her public life, one that promises to be as closely watched as any campaign.
