Politics
From Biden to Buttigieg: All the Democrats Kamala Harris slams in her new memoir
Kamala Harris is going scorched-earth against her fellow Democrats, criticizing not just Joe Biden but a list of party leaders — and potential 2028 candidates — in her new memoir.
Recounting the whirlwind 107 days of her presidential campaign after Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024 following a disastrous debate performance, the former vice president tosses criticisms at a slew of major Democratic players, from her longtime friend California Gov. Gavin Newsom to party star Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The memoir, titled “107 Days,” presents a raw retelling of the chaotic days between Biden’s bombshell announcement and the November election. Throughout, Harris bluntly describes the failings of a slew of pillars within the Democratic Party, pulling the curtain back on party leadership as Democrats stumble through attempts to land on cohesive messaging during a second Trump era and scramble to elevate possible standard bearers ahead of the 2028 election.
Here are eight Democrats Harris calls out in her new memoir:
Gavin Newsom
The California governor, and Harris’ longtime friend and competitor in their home state, was among the Democrats the former vice president exposed for their response in the hours after Biden dropped out of the race.
“Hiking. Will call back,” Harris wrote of Newsom’s response in notes from her calls that day.
“He never did,” she pointedly added in her memoir, skipping reference to Newsom’s subsequent endorsement hours later.
A spokesperson for Newsom previously declined to comment to Blue Light News on the anecdote.
Harris and Newsom, both natives of the Bay Area , have had long and oftentimes overlapping political careers. While Harris, up until her book tour, has largely faded from view after her failed presidential bid, Newsom’s popularity has grown among Democratic voters, especially after the White House sent National Guard troops to the Golden State.
The California governor has come increasingly in the spotlight as one of the few Democratic voices willing to match Trump’s preferred tough-talking form of public sparring.
Gretchen Whitmer
Newsom wasn’t the only Democrat whose response the vice president described as lukewarm.
In her memoir, Harris recounted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reticence to commit to an endorsement. According to Harris, Whitmer said she needed to “let the dust settle” following Biden’s withdrawal from the race before making a public statement.
Whitmer, whose name had been floated at the time as a possible Democratic candidate to replace Biden, endorsed Harris the following day — and announced that she would co-chair Harris’ presidential campaign.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
JB Pritzker
According to her call notes from the day of Biden’s withdrawal, which Harris presented in an italicized list in the early pages of her memoir, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also declined to immediately offer an immediate endorsement.
“As governor of Illinois, I’m the convention host,” Harris described as Pritzker’s response. “I can’t commit.”
Pritzker endorsed Harris the day after Biden dropped out.
“Gov. Pritzker fought hard to elect Vice President Harris and Democrats across the state and country,” said a spokesperson for the governor. “He’s proud to have helped lead a convention that built momentum and showcased the Harris-Walz ticket.”
Pete Buttigieg
In a shocking dig at the former Transportation secretary, whom Harris described as a “close friend,” Harris wrote that while Buttigieg was her top pick to join her on the presidential ticket, she ultimately didn’t select him because she didn’t believe America was ready for a Black woman and a gay man in the White House.
“We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. 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,” Harris wrote, adding that “I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”
But according to Buttigieg, Harris’ concerns were “not something that we ever talked about.”
The former Transportation secretary told Blue Light News on Thursday that he was “surprised” to read Harris’ thought process on his potential vice presidential candidacy in an excerpt of her book published this week, saying he believes in “giving Americans more credit” than assuming they wouldn’t vote for both of them.
Josh Shapiro
Shapiro, who was also in the running to be Harris’ No. 2, didn’t make the cut either.
Harris was concerned that the Pennsylvania governor’s ambition would prove an obstacle to his willingness to serve in a secondary role to hers.
Shapiro “mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision,” Harris recalled in the memoir, writing that she responded bluntly that “a vice president is not a copresident.”
She just couldn’t trust that he would settle for a role as No. 2.
And while Harris lauded Shapiro as “poised, polished and personable,” she said he “peppered” her and her staff with questions — including how many bedrooms were in the vice president’s home and “how he might arrange to get Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian.”
Shapiro also showed a “lack of discretion” in the process, Harris wrote, citing an incident when his car — with Pennsylvania plates — was filmed by BLN outside of her residence despite her staff’s efforts to secure the governor less obvious transportation.
A spokesperson for Shapiro pushed back on Harris’ characterization of the governor, telling Blue Light News this week that “it’s simply ridiculous to suggest that Governor Shapiro was focused on anything other than defeating Donald Trump and protecting Pennsylvania from the chaos we are living through now.”
Mark Kelly
The Arizona senator, a former astronaut and retired naval officer, was a strong contender in the veepstakes, Harris recalled, describing him as “magnetic” and saying that she “admired” him.
But while Kelly was an “American ideal of selfless service,” he was also “untarnished” politically. He had yet to weather an “‘oh shit’ moment,” Harris wrote, saying that she “wasn’t sure” how he would handle the kind of attacks Trump was likely to lob his way.
Harris was also wary of the fact that Kelly was slow to sign the pro-labor PRO Act — a choice that she called a “red flag.”
The senator’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Joe Biden
After remaining quiet in the aftermath of her 2024 campaign, Harris finally opened the floodgates on her former boss, calling his decision to run for a second term “reckless.”
Though she did not believe it was “incapacity,” Biden was old, Harris wrote. And it showed. At 81, the president was tired, manifesting in “physical and verbal stumbles,” Harris wrote.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser,” she said.
A spokesperson for Biden previously declined to comment on her book, but several former aides were critical of previously published excerpts in interviews with Blue Light News.
But while she did have “concerns” about Biden’s ability to lead a successful campaign, Harris emphasized that “there was a distinction between his ability to campaign and his ability to govern,” writing that he “navigated successfully through intensely dangerous world events.”
Harris stressed that her relationship with Biden was a good one, describing their rapport as “genuine,” based on a foundation of shared values despite being people who “seemingly couldn’t have been more different.”
Still, Harris describes the frustration that she and her husband, Doug, experienced feeling that she had to repeatedly prove her loyalty to the president.
“I had to prove my loyalty, time and time again,” Harris wrote.
But Biden and his White House didn’t offer the same in return. When she was cast as a “DEI hire” or mocked for her laugh by conservatives, the White House stayed silent.
“Getting anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible,” she wrote.
She also specifically mentioned that Biden called her before her crucial debate with Donald Trump in 2024 to inquire why she supposedly was critical of him to donors. The call rattled her, she wrote.
Biden’s inner circle
But her broadsides weren’t just reserved for the former president.
Harris directed a volley of criticisms at Biden’s inner circle, blaming them for pushing her to the side as her popularity grew in a series of moves that she said ultimately held her back from beating Trump.
Biden’s team thrust thorny policy items onto her plate, reprimanding her after a viral speech she made and failed to defend her against attacks from Republicans and conservative media — even “adding fuel to negative narratives,” including reports of staff turnover in her office — Harris wrote.
And perhaps most of all, Harris blamed Biden’s confidants for not pushing him to step aside sooner.
“’It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris wrote.
But the former vice president dodged blame herself, saying that as Biden’s second in command, any move to encourage the president to step aside would have been seen as “incredibly self-serving.”
Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at JD Vance for suggesting he’s already focused on a 2028 presidential bid, calling the vice president “insecure” while insisting he’s focused on the 2026 midterms.
“In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they’re feeling insecure,” Cruz said in a phone interview Saturday. “So he’s welcome to make whatever comments he likes. I’m going to keep focusing on the midterms and helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days.”
Cruz’s comments came in response to an NBC News interview Thursday with Vance in which the vice president suggested Cruz was prematurely eyeing a White House run.
“It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Vance said. “At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans. That’s what I’m going to keep on doing.”
Vance is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, but Cruz has said he doesn’t believe Vance is the sure-fire nominee and suggested he might throw his own hat in the ring. “I’ll certainly be part of the discussion,” he told MS NOW in August.
On Saturday, Cruz told Blue Light News he is dedicated to helping Republicans maintain control of both chambers of Congress. He pointed to his travel this cycle to campaign with candidates in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina as well as in his home state of Texas as proof. He also said he has trips planned this month to campaign with Republicans in Alaska, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“Over the last 10 years, there’s no Republican in the country who has campaigned for more Senate candidates, more House candidates, more gubernatorial candidates than I have, and this year will be no exception,” he said.
Cruz rattled off a list of a dozen GOP candidates he’s helped bolster in past years, including former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, U.S. House candidate Karoline Leavitt — and the vice president.
“Indeed, ironically, I spent a full day on the road with JD Vance, campaigning with him when he was running for Senate in Ohio [in 2022],” Cruz said. “I was very glad he won that race. I was very glad to help him.”
A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond to Cruz’s latest comments.
Vance campaigned in Texas and Florida this week and will hold a rally in Alaska on Monday.
Republicans have tried to find a new boogeyman this year as they rail against Democratic socialism and the “radical” left: Zohran Mamdani. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bernie Sanders.
Still more mentioned than all of them, at least in campaign ads: former President Joe Biden.
A Blue Light News review of hundreds of ads running in battleground House and Senate races in recent months shows Republicans largely haven’t seized on progressive icons in paid media. Instead, Biden is the Democrat most likely to be mentioned in GOP ads this cycle, coming up across dozens of races.
President Donald Trump has frequently sought to blame Biden for high prices and other challenges that his administration has faced. Even so, the former president has become a far less useful punching bag for Republicans since leaving office and remaining largely out of the spotlight: At this time in the 2024 cycle, Biden had been mentioned in more than 1,000 Republican House and Senate ads, according to AdImpact data.
The data illustrates how Republicans have been unable to land on a clear villain as they seek to convince voters that Democratic control of Congress would be worse than keeping the GOP in charge. Their warnings about old establishment figures like Biden and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi don’t land like they once did. But they also haven’t been able to seize on emerging democratic socialists like they had hoped to.
Democrats’ foil, meanwhile, has never been more obvious, with Trump’s approval rating in the mid-thirties amid continued high prices and the Iran war.
“No one will match the level of Pelosi for Republicans, in part because the Obamacare vote was such a touchstone moment. And the ‘we have to pass it to find out what’s in it,’” said Doug Heye, a longtime Republican operative who noted he still has “Fire Pelosi” swag from the Republicans’ successful 2010 midterm rout. The then-speaker was central to the GOP’s campaign message that year.
Part of the challenge for Republicans comes from Democrats’ lack of a clear leader. Pelosi stepped down from Democratic leadership at the start of 2023, and her successor, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) does not elicit the same animus from Republicans. In the 2022 cycle, her last term as Democratic leader, Pelosi was invoked in more than 80 GOP ads, Blue Light News’s analysis found. Now, she’s mentioned just a handful of times, while Jeffries hasn’t been mentioned in any battleground TV ads this year, according to the Blue Light News review of transcripts.
Biden was an easy target for the GOP in 2022 and 2024, when Republicans blamed him for high inflation and the cost of living. Now, poll after poll shows that voters are more likely to hold Trump — not Biden — responsible for the current state of the U.S. economy, even as Trump tries to redirect the blame.
Even Kamala Harris, the most recent Democratic standard-bearer as their 2024 nominee, is named less often in paid media this cycle than Biden. And among other potential future Democratic presidential candidates, only California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez appear as Republican foils — and not as often as Harris or Biden.
Ocasio-Cortez is often mentioned by Republicans in the same sentence as Sanders, especially when the GOP seeks to tie Democrats in battleground races to the party’s progressive wing. In Michigan’s hotly contested Senate race, former public health official Abdul El-Sayed was endorsed by both — something his opponent Mike Rogers and GOP outside groups have seized on.
“El Sayed is endorsed by extreme liberals like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders,” one recent ad from the conservative super PAC Sentinel Action Fund says.
Some Republicans have sought to run against the progressives even when there are no such ties: One ad that ran earlier this year from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the state’s GOP comptroller promised to stand up to Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders and the “new radical left.” Neither Sanders nor Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed in either race.
Most often, the GOP has run ads seeking to tie Democratic candidates to socialism or communism — the concepts themselves — in dozens of House battleground races and nearly every major Senate race. Just this week, the Trump administration launched a national $20 million DHS-funded campaign-style ad spree that features Trump lambasting “communism, socialism, and Marxism.”
But when it comes to specific political figures — like Mamdani, New York City’s mayor — it gets complicated. Republicans once salivated at the prospect of Mamdani as a foil when he was first elected last year. But his first year in office has largely boosted his standing with voters, complicating efforts to turn his tenure into a negative for Democrats.
Trump’s surprising continued embrace of the New York City mayor — just last week, the president stood by Mamdani and said he hoped he would “be a great mayor” — has further complicated GOP efforts to paint him as a villain.
In a handful of swingy New York congressional districts, Republicans have still attempted to tie their opponents to Mamdani, while Democrats have pushed back on the connection. In New York’s 21st District, which Trump won by more than 20 points two years ago, Democratic dairy farmer Blake Gendebien ran an ad arguing that his Republican opponent wants voters to think he’s “running against Zohran Mamdani” but “that’s a load of bull.”
The GOP has characterized prominent Democrats as socialist for decades. As progressives won a series of contested primaries this year, some Democrats worried the rise of figures with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America would give Republicans easy ammunition for the general election.
But being called a “socialist” may not have the same shock value it once did.
“I don’t think just calling a candidate ‘socialist’ works that well for Republicans, particularly this late in the game,” said Matt Towery, a longtime GOP pollster. “If a candidate focuses on parts of the DSA’s platform and can authentically pin it on their opponent, that might work. But Republicans just assume people have a bad reaction to the term socialist, and the term doesn’t elicit the same reaction it used to.”
Politics
‘A slow-moving car crash:’ Republicans are wary of the $200 million-plus price tag to save Ken Paxton
Republicans know they have to spend big to save Ken Paxton. They’re increasingly worried MAGA Inc. won’t throw down in time.
In private conversations over recent weeks, senior Hill Republicans and GOP officials have nudged President Donald Trump’s team to start spending more on the Texas Senate race before it’s too late, according to three people with direct knowledge of those conversations, who were granted anonymity to discuss them.
Those fears escalated after audio leaked of Paxton privately trashing Trump’s midterm convention, with some worrying it could impact whether MAGA Inc. continues spending after a current wave of GOP ad bookings run out Oct. 12.
A Trump operative told Blue Light News that MAGA Inc. and its affiliates are expected to spend near $45 million on direct mail, TV, and digital advertising in Texas through Oct. 12, an increase from its previous $20 million to boost Paxton. But they said the team is still assessing how much more money to send in the final weeks, in consultation with Senate Republicans and their top super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund.
The Trump operative, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly, would not commit to any plans when asked by Blue Light News.
With national Democrats starting to finally spend for their Senate nominee, James Talarico, after months of holding off, and as polling of the race tightens, Republicans expect the cost of salvaging Paxton’s campaign will only skyrocket. And, they’ve started to panic.
“It’s a five-alarm fire, no doubt,” one GOP senator said. “Can we put it out? I hope so.”
“This is a slow-moving car crash that we’re witnessing right now,” a Republican strategist in the state said. “And there’s a 75% chance that the ultimate result here will be catastrophic from a GOP Senate majority standpoint.”
A fourth Republican, a national operative, spoke to the urgency factor: “While it’s money we shouldn’t have needed to spend, it needs to be spent now,” said a national GOP operative, describing the state as more winnable than North Carolina, Georgia and potentially Ohio.
Even with a massive war chest, Texas is turning into a huge money sink for the GOP that senators worry could hurt them in other tight races as they work to defend deep-red states and try to flip blue seats in Michigan and New Hampshire.
Trump himself nodded to some of the concerns at a rally just across the Texas border in Oklahoma Thursday night, saying those voters aren’t the ones he’s concerned about.
“We’re worried about Michigan. We’re worried about Texas,” he told the crowd. “We’re worried about a few states.”The president is scheduled to visit Texas again next week for a rally in San Antonio next Wednesday.
SLF poured another $60 million into Texas on Wednesday, bringing its total expenditure there to a record-breaking $131 million. With the MAGA Inc. money and additional GOP ad reservations, the race is already on track to top $200 million from outside Republican groups hoping to save Paxton. Paxton’s own campaign recently announced a $20 million ad buy — one of the largest single media investments in a Texas Senate race.
Some Republicans want MAGA Inc. to take over spending for Paxton in Texas in the final few weeks, so SLF can focus its resources elsewhere. MAGA Inc. could also funnel money into SLF’s recently established Texas PAC. But, according to two people with direct knowledge of that matter, that hasn’t happened.
“At some point I think the people spending that money are going to have to make hard choices and figure out where the money can have the biggest impact, and certainly Texas is the most expensive,” Sen. John Cornyn, who lost to Trump-backed Paxton in the primary, recently told POLITICO.
SLF Executive Director Alex Latcham indicated to Blue Light News the group will keep spending in Texas: “Senate Leadership Fund’s investment through Texas PAC affirms our commitment to maintaining the Republican majority and defeating Far-Left liberals like James Talarico.”
But Republicans’ money concerns have been complicated by Paxton himself. A growing number of GOP senators and top operatives have been stunned by what they described as unforced errors by the Texas Senate nominee. For example, he crossed one of the brightest red lines with Trump, telling a group of donors that “everybody’s numbers dropped” after the president’s GOP convention in Dallas last month, according to the audio leak reported by The New York Times.
“There seems to be very little strategy there,” said another Republican senator, granted anonymity to candidly discuss the race. “Sometimes, I think [Paxton] wants to lose.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump, while on his way to Texas to tour a motor facility on Thursday, told reporters he hadn’t talked to Paxton about his convention comments. Later, he told a crowd in Texas that “Ken Paxton was at my side more than anybody, and I have to always remember that because he can be a pain in the ass sometimes. I’ll be honest.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters this week that he hadn’t seen the audio of Paxton trashing Trump’s convention. He acknowledged the stakes in his home state were high — and that the influx of cash is key.
“The reason that it is a serious race and a close race right now is that for several months the Democrats were massively outspending us,” he said, “and I am glad now that we are seeing money invested in communicating with the voters.”
The White House has attempted to reassure concerned senators, with chief of staff Susie Wiles telling Senate Republicans this week that there will be enough money available for competitive races in the final stretch, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting.
GOP operatives in both Michigan and New Hampshire said they feel that some of the cash being shoveled toward Texas should be going to their states instead. Most polls show Republicans running narrowly behind or neck and neck in both states, even though they hold a spending advantage on the airwaves there.
“We’re focusing so much on ‘we’ve got to put this money into Texas.’ Why? We’ve never had a problem in Texas. Let’s focus on taking back a seat we haven’t had in years,” said an ally of former Sen. John E. Sununu, who’s in a tight race against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. “There are real chances in Michigan and New Hampshire,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamics.
Sununu’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Latcham, who heads SLF, said that “Texas PAC is a dedicated effort that will not take resources from our other ongoing investments across the Senate map.”
Recent polling still shows the Texas Senate race with a razor-thin margin. Most public polling over the past two months shows Talarico with an edge, though Paxton’s campaign released an internal poll Tuesday that shows Paxton leading by three points among likely voters, 48% to 45%.
“I don’t think the needle has moved in the last month,” said one Texas Republican elected official, granted anonymity to speak frankly. “Unless it’s the worst polling that’s ever been done in political history, all this spend hasn’t changed anything, and I think people have made their mind up.”
Lisa Kashinsky, Samuel Benson, Alex Gangitano and Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.
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