Former Vice President Kamala Harris commenced the release of her book, 107 Days, on Tuesday and a 15-city book tour on Wednesday with a series of media appearances in which she addressed her chaotic and unsuccessful 2024 campaign against President Donald Trump.
The memoir has caused a stir among Democrats, who are still attempting to rebuild the party brand after former President Joe Biden‘s exit from the presidential campaign and Harris’s three-month sprint to Election Day.
Harris has largely avoided the limelight since leaving office — until now. Although Biden’s presidential memoir fetched $10 million from Little, Brown and Company, few details have emerged about how much money Harris received from her publisher, Simon & Schuster.
Simon & Schuster did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request about Harris’s book sales this week.
Here are the top six takeaways from Harris’s book launch media blitz.
1. Harris underestimated how much people wanted her to break from Biden
The former vice president returned to The View on Tuesday morning, and she addressed her infamous comments about how she would differ from a Biden administration, which she made on the show last year.
“There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of [anything that she would have done differently from Biden],” Harris told the moderators in 2024.
But after losing the election, Harris sang a different tune.
“I’m a loyal person, and I didn’t fully appreciate how much people wanted to know there was a difference between me and President Biden,” Harris said on Tuesday. “I thought it was obvious, and I didn’t want to offer a difference in a way that would be received or suggested to be a criticism.”
Sunny Hostin, the host who had asked Harris about what she would have done differently from Biden, again pressed the former vice president over the incident.
“Do you think that moment tipped the election?” Hostin said.
“No,” Harris said.
2. Harris claims she holds part of the blame for Biden running again
Harris appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show on Monday evening, her first news interview since the 2024 election, and she took some responsibility for Biden’s decision to run for reelection despite trepidation from the public.
In her memoir, Harris wrote that “the stakes were simply too high” for Biden and former first lady Jill Biden to have decided on their own.
Maddow asked Harris if she was partly responsible for not speaking up.
“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 said. “And so when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I’m talking about myself; there was so much, as we know, at stake.”
Harris reiterated her comments on Good Morning America on Tuesday with host Michael Strahan.
“Would it have mattered if you did?” Strahan asked Harris about speaking to Biden to stand down.
“I don’t know,” she responded. “But I, I can only take responsibility for myself.”
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3. Harris blasts Trump as an ’emperor’ and ‘tyrant’
While promoting the book, Harris has repeatedly slammed Trump’s tenure during his second administration, with a particular focus on his strong-arming of the media, public universities, and law firms.
“Right now, we are dealing with, as I called him at my speech on the Ellipse, a tyrant. We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators,” Harris said while talking with Maddow.
“This individual who occupies our White House right now, the people’s house, has decided that he will be an emperor in his mind, who will demonstrate his power by demeaning and belittling and making people feel small,” Harris told The View moderators.
“You can see in polling how his popularity is nose-diving. And I do believe that moving forward, we’re going to remember that the power, ultimately, is with the people,” she added.
The former vice president claimed Trump lied to the public during the campaign after he promised an American economic revival but instead is still facing a sluggish economy.
“Look at where we are today. Inflation is up, the cost of food is up. Unemployment is up. He did not keep that promise to the American people,” Harris said on Good Morning America.
4. Harris still talks to Biden in post-presidency life
Excerpts of 107 Days caused a stir among former White House staffers because Harris alleged that Biden’s inner team did not set her up for success as vice president.
Yet despite some outcry, Harris said she and Biden are on speaking terms.
“I do speak to him,” she said on The View. “And it’s a good relationship and it’s a relationship that is based on mutual respect, having been in the trenches together.”
“I want to be really clear, this book is not about Joe Biden,” she also said. “I love Joe Biden, and I also am very clear, and have made a point of making it clear, Joe Biden was a highly capable president who accomplished great things that history will talk about.”
5. Harris repeatedly dodges on 2028 plans
The former vice president was asked on all three shows about whether she would seek the White House again in 2028. But she repeatedly claimed her focus was on selling her memoir.
“That’s not my focus right now. It’s not my focus at all. It really isn’t,” Harris told Maddow.
“That’s not in my immediate focus. I’m doing my book tour,” she again told The View.
“I’m not focused on that right now. I’m really not. I’m really excited about my book tour,” she said on Good Morning America.
“We’ll see if people will be supporting you if you announce you’re going to run in 2028,” Good Morning America’s Strahan later teased Harris.
“Oh my goodness, just, just buy the book,” Harris laughed back.
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6. Harris gives Zohran Mamdani a tepid endorsement
Harris somewhat gave an endorsement of Zohran Mamdani, the socialist running to become the next New York City mayor, while speaking with Maddow.
“Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported,” she said as some prominent Democrats have shied away from endorsing him.
“I support the Democrat in the race, sure. But let me just say this: He’s not the only star,” Harris added.
“There are people like Barbara Drummond in Mobile, Alabama, Helena Moreno in New Orleans; they’re all running for mayor too, and they are stars,” Harris continued. “So I hope that we don’t so overindex on New York City that we lose sight of the stars throughout our country who are right now running for mayor and many other offices, governor, and so on. … We got a big tent, and we got a lot of stars.”
Mamdani has the support of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, but neither House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) nor Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has endorsed him.