Former Vice President Kamala Harris said members of President Joe Biden’s communications team and inner circle offered little support during her 2024 presidential campaign, according to an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir published Wednesday.
In a piece in The Atlantic, Harris wrote that getting “anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible.” The book, titled 107 Days, is due for release Sept. 30.
Harris cited several examples she said illustrated the lack of support, including a 2021 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. She said headlines that she had used a "French accent" during the trip overshadowed what she described as a meaningful thaw in relations and that the White House did not push back on the framing.
She also wrote that Biden staffers at times “added fuel to negative narratives” about her, pointing to coverage that portrayed her office as chaotic with unusually high staff turnover during her first year. Harris said those accounts did not reflect the work her team had done and that her staff faced the additional burden of confronting gendered stereotypes. She noted she was the first vice president to have a dedicated press pool following her every public move.
Harris addressed her role on immigration, saying that when Republicans labeled her the administration’s "border czar," the White House communications operation did not help her rebut that characterization or highlight progress she said had been made. "Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed," she wrote, arguing that her visible success would have bolstered confidence in Biden’s choice of her as vice president and reassured the public about continuity of leadership.
The excerpt also said Harris acknowledged that Biden "got tired" during his term but denied there was any conspiracy to conceal mental decline. Harris’s campaign and the White House have at times been at odds over messaging and public narratives, and she described a dynamic in which her achievements were underreported while criticisms were allowed to persist.
Harris’s handling of the memoir’s promotion has drawn its own scrutiny. According to reports, she used Democratic Party email lists to market the book, prompting questions about party neutrality in communications and fundraising lists.
Harris has signaled she will not run in California in 2026. The memoir centers on her 2024 presidential bid and her reflections on serving as vice president.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Atlantic published the excerpt Wednesday, and 107 Days will be released by the book’s publisher on Sept. 30.
