Kamala Harris settled on picking Tim Walz to be her running mate last year because she felt Americans were too racist, antisemitic and homophobic to accept her preferred option – Pete Buttigieg.
In an excerpt from the former vice president’s forthcoming book, “107 Days,” obtained by The Atlantic magazine, Harris describes Buttigieg as her “first choice” but later deemed the openly gay former transportation secretary to be “too big of a risk” on the ticket.
Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner —if I were a straight white man,” Harris wrote.
“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” she continued. “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.”
“And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”
Harris ultimately tapped Walz, the governor of Minnesota, for the role and together, the pair went on to lose the popular vote, Electoral College and every single swing state to President Trump in the 2024 election.
In her book, Harris explained that Buttigieg topped her list of eight potential running mates because “he is a sincere public servant with the rare talent of being able to frame liberal arguments in a way that makes it possible for conservatives to hear them.”
“I love Pete,” she wrote. “I love working with Pete. He and his husband, Chasten, are friends.”
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., who burst onto the national political scene when he ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, is an early favorite get the party’s nod in 2028.
An Emerson College survey, released in June, found Buttigieg leading Harris – 16% to 13% – in a hypothetical Democratic presidential primary, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (12%), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (7%) and “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (7%) close behind.
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