Kamala Harris says Pete Buttigieg was top running mate pick, but risky move: The Atlantic

(NEW YORK) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris has written in her forthcoming memoir that she considered former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as the top choice to be her running mate in her 2024 presidential campaign, according to excerpts of the book obtained by The Atlantic.

But, she wrote, she decided that it would be too risky to have a gay man alongside her as a Black woman on the ballot, given how voters might react, according to the excerpts in The Atlantic.

“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. And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness,” Harris wrote in her memoir, “107 Days,” according to The Atlantic.

ABC News has not independently reviewed the excerpts reported by The Atlantic.

Buttigieg’s team declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.

Buttigieg was among the contenders Harris considered as a vice presidential pick for her truncated presidential run, among other rising stars in the Democratic Party such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. In the end, Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

A source close to the selection process told ABC News at the time that Harris liked Walz’s executive experience and a his “strong record of accomplishment for middle class families that models what we want to do nationally.” Harris told supporters in early August 2024 that Walz fit the criteria she sought in a running mate, including that he was “a fighter for the middle class” and a unifying leader.

Harris and Buttigieg did not discuss Harris’ reasoning for the decision, according to a person familiar with their discussions.

In the excerpts reported on by The Atlantic, Harris said that she considered Buttigieg as her top pick because, she wrote, Buttigieg “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.”

Harris has said that her book, which will be released Tuesday, is a “behind-the-scenes look at my experience leading the shortest presidential campaign in modern history,” which she launched after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024.

In an excerpt published last week in The Atlantic, Harris wrote that Democrats made a mistake and it was “recklessness” to allow Biden to make the decision alone on running for reelection, saying the choice should not have been “left to an individual’s ego.”

ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie, and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.

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