Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has recalled how the crowd in attendance reacted to her first speech as the presumptive Democratic candidate for the 2024 US Presidential election.
“When I am president… A roar erupted that drowned out the rest of that sentence,” Harris wrote in her new book, ‘107 Days’.
Harris was speaking about restoring the rights of Roe v. Wade in her speech in Indianapolis on July 24.
“That roar told me they could see it. Clearly, for the first time. This could be, and it should be. It was not because of gender or because of race, but despite those things,” she recalled.
First day as Democratic candidate
In her new book, Harris talked about the first day as the Democratic candidate.
“On this day, there was a new energy in the room as I walked onto the stage. A Black woman was slated to be the Democratic nominee for president. It was us. And everyone there understood what it meant: that this would be a journey of both joy and pain,” Harris said in the memoir, according to the excerpts published by The Atlantic.
Harris, who is of mixed ancestry, with Indian and Jamaican roots, said even as the first woman Vice President, she had to constantly prove herself that she belonged there.
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‘White House rarely pushed back for me’
“When Fox News attacked me on everything from my laugh, to my tone of voice, to whom I’d dated in my 20s, or claimed I was a “DEI hire,” the White House rarely pushed back with my actual résumé: two terms elected D.A., top cop in the second-largest department of justice in the United States, senator representing one in eight Americans,” she wrote.
Lorraine Voles, my chief of staff, constantly had to advocate for my role at events: “She’s not going to stand there like a potted plant. Give her two minutes of remarks. Have her introduce the president.”
Harris also spoke about another instance when the White House failed to stand up for her.
“When Republicans mischaracterized my role as “border czar,” no one in the White House comms team helped me to effectively push back and explain what I had really been tasked to do, nor to highlight any of the progress I had achieved,” she wrote.
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‘My success was important for Biden’
According to Harris, while Joe Biden wanted her to succeed, his team did not see it the same way.
“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well. 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. His team didn’t get it,” she narrated.
