Former Vice President Kamala Harris‘s eyebrow-raising book is reigniting conversations about the chaotic 2024 presidential campaign season just as Democrats are securing several special-election wins before the marquee gubernatorial races in November.
An excerpt of Harris’s forthcoming book, 107 Days, was published in the Atlantic on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after James Walkinshaw, a Democrat, won the special election contest to succeed late Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly in the House of Representatives.
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The timing, although likely coincidental, illustrated the dilemma Democrats currently face. Shut out of control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats are seeking to rebuild their brand with the American electorate following a poor performance during the 2024 presidential election.
Yet, Harris’s book will bring national attention to former President Joe Biden’s surprise exit from the 2024 race and the 107-day sprint Harris faced against President Donald Trump.
“Harris is facing a lot of obstacles on her way to the Democratic nomination in 2028. She has a lot of baggage,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon, who said he would not support the former vice president if she runs again in 2028. “The reality is I think Democrats are looking for a fresh face.”
Democrats have largely chosen to move forward from Biden’s tenure and the fallout from his declining mental and physical capabilities while in office. They’ve pointed to successes in a pair of special elections in Florida this year, as well as Judge Susan Crawford’s win in the April Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Democrats also touted flipping a Pennsylvania state Senate district that Trump won by double digits and an Iowa state Senate district, breaking the state’s GOP supermajority.
In Virginia, Rep.-elect Walkinshaw won the race by 50% surpassing the 34% margin that Harris held in the district in 2024.
“So far this year, as you all know, Democratic candidates have won or overperformed in 41 out of 42 key elections throughout this country,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin boasted during a press call last week.
Democrats also have the momentum heading into the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia this November, as Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and former Virginia Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger lead their Republican challengers.
But Harris’s allegations that Biden and his White House team did not provide the support she needed, even though it would have benefited him, could force the party to retread the perilous 2024 campaign.
“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well,” Harris wrote. “That, given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital. It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him.”
Kaivan Shroff, a 2024 delegate for Harris, said the former vice president has the right to tell the story of her campaign, as does Biden, who has conducted a few interviews and speeches since leaving office.
“There is an open debate in the party about whether we should be having these conversations, or we should sort of just be shutting them all down and focusing on uniting and winning,” said Shroff. “I think at the same time … the party does have soul searching to do.”
Shroff claimed that Harris’s alleged mistreatment is not “surprising” given the reporting of the difficult tasks Harris was given as vice president at the time.
“I’m sure the book has a lot more sort of harsh critiques, probably, of the realities of the Democratic Party, her experience,” he continued. “And you know, she’s going to try to totally reframe herself.”
Other Democrats were less concerned that Harris’s new book, out on Sept. 23, will dominate the Democratic narrative heading into the 2026 midterm election campaign season.
“I don’t really think the electorate gives two s***s about her book and whether it’ll weigh on their decision-making,” said Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist who has worked on several presidential campaigns. “I don’t think Harris, from my perspective, is a reason why a Democrat won’t vote in a special election, or won’t vote for or against someone in Jersey and Virginia.”
Ceraso said that during recent visits to both New Jersey and Virginia, not a single person brought up Harris. “I think the general public is essentially saying: We’re in Trumpworld right now. This is a Trump presidency. We are reacting to Trump,” he added.
But Democrats have long conceded that the party needs a new vision after voters soundly rejected their presidential ticket last fall, and internal squabbles about the party’s future have spilled out into the public.
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If the new book is Harris’s attempt to soft-launch another presidential campaign after declining to run in the California governor’s race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), she’ll face a tough time shaking off her history in the Biden administration.
Harris’s excerpt “tells me she’s trying to distance herself from Biden and present herself as a new face, but it’s going to be very hard for her to do that,” said Bannon. “I think Democrats are looking for a new face, and that’s why I think Gavin Newsom had such a big summer.”
