Kamala Harris' New Book Gets Brutal Reception
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The announcement by Kamala Harris, former vice president, that she is publishing a book about her failed 2024 presidential campaign, titled 107 Days, with reference to the period she spent vying with Donald Trump, has been panned by conservative critics.
Newsweek contacted Harris for comment on Friday via email outside of regular office hours.
Why It Matters
Harris became the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee in August after Joe Biden dropped out of the race amid concern within his party over the then-president's age and cognitive state.
However, Harris went on to lose the 2024 presidential election, picking up 226 Electoral College votes against 312 for Trump. On Wednesday, Harris announced she won't run to be governor of California in 2026, sparking speculation she could be considering a second White House bid in 2028.
What To Know
Harris announced she has written on a book about the 2024 presidential campaign, to be published by Simon & Schuster and titled 107 Days, on Thursday in a post on her X account. The former vice president said: "Since leaving office, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on those days and with candor and reflection, I've written a behind-the-scenes account of that journey."
What the world saw on the campaign trail was only part of the story.
My new book is a behind-the-scenes look at my experience leading the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.
107 Days is out on September 23. I can't wait for you to read it: https://t.co/G4bkeZB4NZ pic.twitter.com/taUof0L4hs — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 31, 2025
The news received a mixed reaction online, with conservatives in particular highly critical, though some commentators did say they were looking forward to reading it.
During an appearance on CNN's The Source With Kaitlan Collins, the network's senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere said: "And there's going to be a book tour and one of the things that I talk to people who have been dealing with it with her is that she really struggles with what she is going to say about Joe Biden."
In an X post response to Harris, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said: "Writing a memoir about being a loser is a choice."
Writing for The New York Post, columnist Kirsten Fleming said Harris's book would be a "diary of defeat," adding: "Anything written on her ill-fated attempt to win the White House should be a grim autopsy on a spectacularly bad campaign with a historically terrible candidate."
The cover for Kamala Harris' upcoming book '107 Days' (left) and Harris speaking at the State of the People POWER Tour opening ceremony on June 6, 2025 in Los Angeles, California (right).
The cover for Kamala Harris' upcoming book '107 Days' (left) and Harris speaking at the State of the People POWER Tour opening ceremony on June 6, 2025 in Los Angeles, California (right).
Mario Tama/Simon & Schuster/Getty
Stephen Miller, the current U.S. Homeland Security adviser, wrote on X: "What is Kamala Harris' book even going to be about? All the interviews she refused to do? Why she chose Governor Jazz Hands over the Jewish guy? 4 chapters on her endorsement from Dick Cheney?"
Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate over Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania.
On popular Fox News show The Five, presenter Lisa Kennedy said: "I argue the only book that's worth reading is if she's actually honest about the enemies she will claim tanked her chances."
Former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. agreed: "If she's able to get a lot of book sales hurray and good for her, but I hope to your point she honestly confronts some of the things we all saw happening in that campaign, and if it does nothing more, it will give the next nominee on the Democratic side some lessons about what he or she should do and mainly what they should not do."
However, conservative commentator Jesse Watters was more positive, suggesting the book could push Harris toward a 2028 White House run.
He said: "In October/September the book publishes … and then she does the book tour and the tour reconnects her with the American people, the crowds, the donors and kind of launches her toward the next year's midterms and then she'll campaign for people and she'll raise money for them and she hopes the Democrats win the midterms and that kind of sets her up."
On his popular The Breakfast Club podcast, Charlamagne tha God, real name Lenard McKelvey, said: "I don't know if she should run again, but I'd definitely like to see her write a book, I definitely would like to see her start a podcast and just build a real connection with people."
What People Are Saying
Simon & Schuster Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Karp said: "107 DAYS captures the drama of running for president better than just about anything I've read. It's one of the best works of political nonfiction Simon & Schuster has ever published. It's an eyewitness contribution to history and an extraordinary story."
Senior Vice President and Publisher of 37 Ink Dawn Davis said: "There is so much to be gleaned from these pages—to read the book is to be a fly on the wall as critical decisions were made and key team members tapped, all in such a dramatic moment in our history, all in just 107 days."
Speaking to CNN's Kaitlan Collins about Harris in 2024, David Axelrod, formerly Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist, said: "It's clear that you read her statement, that she is setting herself up to run."
Appearing on MSNBC Susan Page, the Washington D.C. bureau chief for USA Today, said: "Democrats historically have not been interested in nominating again someone who ran, got the nomination and failed."
What Happens Next
Simon & Schuster said that Harris's book is scheduled for publication on September 23, 2025.
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