The rise and fall of the Kamala Harris campaign began in Atlanta
Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris brought her ongoing “107 Days” book tour to the Tabernacle on Oct. 8, where she denounced President Donald Trump’s claim to a mandate but lamented business, legal and university leaders’ capitulation to his whims.
It’s fitting she came to Atlanta, because the metro area and swing-state Georgia feature prominently in Harris’ personal account of one of the shortest presidential campaigns in American history.
A-Town effectively became the unofficial start of her brief run as the Democratic nominee after former President Joe Biden tanked so badly in his June 27, 2024, debate against Trump at CNN studios in Midtown, appearing overwhelmed, incoherent and incompetent.
In her book, Harris mentioned the Apalachee High School mass shooting, addressed Gov. Brian Kemp’s generous thoughts about the Biden administration’s Hurricane Helene relief effort in contrast to Trump’s negative characterization, and offered Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, a backhanded compliment.
She also recounted her visit to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Jamal Bryant, and later that day, getting to experience R&B icon Stevie Wonder sing her “Happy Birthday” at a Souls to the Polls event at Divine Faith Ministries, followed by words from U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia.
Nearly a year after the Nov. 5 election, “107 Days” lets Harris reflect on what she wanted to accomplish, her desire to serve and protect Americans, and why the election did not go her way.
After reading the hard cover version of the book, I believe that although she may have had sincere intentions, her words reveal two painful truths:
- She was severely disconnected from the struggling Americans she wanted to defend.
- Biden’s shadow and demands for loyalty — without the expectation of reciprocity — doomed her ambition.
She also sabotaged herself in interviews with “The View” and CNN, as well as with a lackluster response to Trump’s anti-trans “they/them” attack ads against her (“Why didn’t I punch back harder?” p. 224).
Moreover, she spends more time name dropping celebrities — such as Usher and Cardi B, who appeared in Atlanta rallies with her — than defining herself and her vision for the United States.
During a BBC published a video interview published Oct. 25, Harris said she may “possibly” run for president again. If she does, her book offers a road map for how to avoid the pitfalls that held her back.
Harris did not connect with Americans on the economy
Had Harris won the election, she would have been the first woman and first Black and Asian person to be president.
She writes about how Trump — whom she frequently skewered and framed as a danger to democracy — exploited her race and gender, and how some of his voters rejected her adamant pro-choice stance.
At the end of the day, however, the economy was the top concern, and she knew it.
“Remember, the economy is what keeps people up at night (p. 71),” was keen advice she received from her campaign staff.
Her biggest chance to make her case was her one and only debate with Trump on Sept. 10, 2024, hosted by ABC — and, contrary to conventional wisdom, she blew it.
Although she omitted this detail from her book, she failed to answer the first question posed to her.
Co-moderator David Muir asked, “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?”
She could have talked about the COVID economic recovery after the disastrous final year of Trump’s first term and the 15 million jobs created during the Biden years, or the impact of landmark infrastructure and climate legislation. She could have acknowledged the crush of peak 9% inflation in 2022 and explain what she wanted to do about it now.
Instead, she equivocated, dodged and talked about proposals instead of action.
Here’s an excerpt of the start of her answer from the ABC transcript:
“So, I was raised as a middle-class kid. And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.”
She went on to discuss the rising cost of housing, small businesses, extending tax cuts and opposing tax cuts for billionaires.
However, she refused or forgot to say whether Americans were better off than they were when Biden and she took office in 2021.
She needed to answer the question about how Americans were doing and what she wanted to do about it — to show them that she cared, just as when 1992 Democratic candidate and eventual President Bill Clinton said, “I feel your pain.”
Harris acknowledged she was in a bubble. Even though she wanted to go up to average Americans to gauge their thoughts, she wrote that security concerns precluded that idea.
“I wished I could ask every one of them, ‘What are you angry about? What about me makes you angry? Is it your health care, your grocery bills, a backbreaking job that doesn’t pay what you’re worth — and what can I do to help you?’” (p. 163).
Nearly 10 months into the second Trump administration, here are a few economic figures to consider:
- Inflation is up 3% year over year.
- The national debt grew by $1 trillion since August, surpassing $38 trillion.
- About 670,000 federal workers are furloughed, while 730,000 are working without pay because of the government shutdown. Moreover, about 1.3 million Georgians face losing food benefits they rely on through the Supplemental Nutrition Aid Program program if the shutdown continues.
- Americans are bracing for massive health care premium increases to kick in next year.
- Ever-changing tariff increase policies are creating price disruption, uncertainty and economic harm to the economy, including for farmers and small businesses.
- Massive immigration enforcement is sweeping up American citizens in addition to undocumented immigrant criminals.
Meanwhile, Trump is building a $250 million ballroom off the White House East Wing and demanding $230 million in damages from the Justice Department for the prosecutions against him during the Biden administration.
Trump may be better off than he was a year ago, but the average American isn’t.
Harris warned Americans about Trump, but she did not do enough to convince most voters she was the superior alternative.
Harris could not shake the albatross of Joe Biden
After Biden’s terrible debate, his staff wanted to spin it and make her defend his performance.
Harris writes that she was incredulous, revealing her thinking: “Are you kidding me? … No. Don’t feed me bull----. Everyone saw what they saw.” (pp. 9-10)
In this way, Biden unwittingly sabotaged her before she even succeeded him as the Democrats’ nominee.
There are other slights she documents in the book. For example, she claimed the following:
- The White House wouldn’t tout her accomplishments or defend her against criticism, such as, with her work to gauge the root cause of mass migration from Central American countries. Instead, she said she received the blame for the border crisis. (pp. 48-49)
- When Biden dropped out of the campaign, he would not immediately endorse her. (p. 17)
- Biden called Harris on her debate night to tell her that certain Pennsylvania supporters would not back her because they claimed she bad-mouthed the president. (“I just couldn’t understand why he would call me, right now, and make it all about himself.” p. 157)
- During a 9/11 commemoration in Pennsylvania, Biden took a Trump supporter’s “Make America Great Again” hat and put it on his head. (p. 164)
- The day after her speech to tens of thousands of backers in Washington, just a week before the election, Biden eclipsed that moment when he let a gaffe slip that made it seem like he was calling Trump supporters “garbage” (“It was covered as Hillary’s ‘deplorables’ on steroids,” p. 258).
She mentioned how first lady Jill Biden demanded to know from second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband: “Are you supporting us?” (p. 42)
This demand for fealty is not necessarily surprising.
On an appearance in the “At Our Table” podcast, hosted by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison, Biden’s son Hunter — who was tried and convicted on felony charges and later pardoned by his father — said: “We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party.”
Harris never claims Biden intentionally sabotaged her, but she also let the power dynamics between them weigh her down.
In October, when she appeared on the popular talk show “The View,” one of the hosts asked her if she would “have done something differently” than Biden in the previous four years.
“There is not a thing comes to mind,” the former vice president responded.
She wrote that she regretted that answer and offered a litany of ways she could have responded better.
Then she explained: “But I was still vice president to President Biden. We had three months left of our administration. Even after the lack of support from the White House, the debate night phone call, and the MAGA hat debacle, I felt I owed him my loyalty.” (p. 213)
In hindsight, Biden could have best supported his vice president by resigning from office and giving her a potential jump-start. That might have been politically impractical and may not have guaranteed her an election win, but it would have allowed her to escape from his shadow.
That’s wishful thinking, but now, she and other former Biden aides say it was “recklessness” (p. 46) of the 46th president to run for reelection. Still, nobody with the power to do something acted until it was too late.
As Harris ponders her future, she should listen more
A tragic read, “107 Days” offers valuable lessons to future candidates about the need for clarity in delivering messages to the public and connecting with average Americans in a way they feel seen and heard.
The book also provides a cautionary tale about favoring loyalty to any single politician over one’s service and oath of office. That’s something Republicans running in the 2026 midterm elections should think about as they decide how devoted they want to be to Trump.
During her BBC interview, even though Harris said, “I’m not done” with public service and could “possibly” run for president again, she added she is focused on her book tour and on “listening” without having to ask for someone’s vote. The tour is scheduled to go through Nov. 20, with stops in Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; Miami; and other cities.
U.S. history has shown comebacks are possible from a presidential campaign defeat: Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Andrew Jackson in 1828, Grover Cleveland in 1892, Richard Nixon in 1968 and Donald Trump in 2024.
Biden will not be a factor in 2028, and Harris will benefit from connecting more deeply with average Americans. That conversation may tell her whether running again or stepping aside is the better option.
David Plazas is the opinion editor of the AJC. Email him at mailto:david.plazas@ajc.com.
About the Author
David Plazas joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in May 2025 after a 25-year award-winning career as a reporter, editor and opinion editor for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida, and most recently, The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee, as an opinion writer and editor, video podcast host, newsletter writer and sought-after moderator.
