Former first lady Jill Biden recalled that after her husband decided to drop out of the presidential race in 2024, then-Vice President Kamala Harris quickly moved past the shocking news and started pushing him to endorse her.
In an excerpt of her upcoming memoir reported by USA Today on Friday, the former first lady wrote how Harris pushed for a rapid endorsement from then-President Joe Biden.
When she first heard the news, Harris initially expressed concern, but shortly thereafter focused on her political future. Jill Biden described this moment as Harris going into “her courtroom prosecutor mode.”
Harris once served as the San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general before becoming vice president in 2021.
She was concerned that any delay in a highly valuable endorsement from the president would open the door to “mischief,” meaning the Democratic Party would back some other candidate instead of her. Biden suggested the announcement could wait until the next morning.
“I want it sooner,” Harris said.
“I’ll call you back when I figure this out,” Biden responded.
She gave him very little time to call back.
“Could you do it soon?” she asked. “Say, in twenty minutes?”
Jill Biden then walked out of the room at this point. The conversation was taking place on speakerphone while the presidential couple was spending a summer weekend at their beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
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Biden announced his decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris in a letter written on July 21, 2024. She was then awarded the party’s nomination on Aug. 5 ahead of the Democratic National Convention later that month.
The former first lady’s new book, View from the East Wing: A Memoir, shows four years in the White House from her perspective. It’s set to be released on June 2.