Kamala Harris has compared the grief of losing the 2024 presidential election to the pain of losing her mother.
Former Vice President Harris, 60, appeared on the Tuesday episode of The View to discuss her latest memoir, 107 Days, which details her historic, abbreviated presidential campaign last year after President Joe Biden exited the race.
Reflecting on the chapter in her memoir in which she opens up about the aftermath of her stunning loss to President Donald Trump, she admitted that it was “one of the most difficult things that I had to reflect on and write about.”
“I’ve always on Election Night done family and friends and dinner,” Harris said. “But that night, I grieved in a way that I have not since my mother died.”
Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, died in 2009 from colon cancer at the age of 70. She has been outspoken about her mother’s profound impact on her own life and career.
The former California Senator explained that the pain “was not at all about losing a race — I knew what it was going to mean for the country.”
As to why she lost the race, Harris acknowledged: “There are many factors... I think probably one of the biggest in my mind is that we didn't have enough time.”
When co-host Joy Behar noted that she and many other people believe racism and sexism played a large part in why she lost, Harris disagreed.
“I beg to differ, I believe that we will [elect a woman president]. Every office I’ve held, I’ve been the first,” she said. “My history tells me because I have been the first, that people ultimately want to know that this is the best person to do the job.”
Clarifying her reason for writing the memoir, she said: “It was important to me that history is written, that my voice be present.”
“This book is not about Joe Biden,” she insisted. “I love Joe Biden. I also am very clear and have made a point of making it clear — Joe Biden was a highly capable president who accomplished great things that history will talk about.”
Harris also took aim at Trump during her conversation with the co-hosts, hours after labeling him a “tyrant” while speaking to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
“It’s important as we move forward to realize that they did what they said they were going to do,” Harris said on The View, highlighting that Trump kept his promises of “weaponizing the Department of Justice, silencing critics against him,” and using the federal government to “fulfill whatever his fragile ego needed.”
“This did not just happen overnight,” she continued. “He has been a useful tool for an agenda that is much broader than the individual.”
This is “not what a president does,” she added.
107 Days is out now.
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