Joe Biden greets Kamala Harris after he gave his farewell address from the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)
Former Vice President Kamala Harris offered her bluntest assessment yet of Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign in her memoir, describing his decision to run again as “recklessness,” according to excerpts published by The Atlantic and reported by NBC News.
In the book ‘107 Days’, Harris recalled how Democrats repeatedly deferred to the Bidens to make the decision on their own. “‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d been hypnotized,” Harris wrote. “Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high.”
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Harris said she worried that directly urging Biden to step aside would have been seen as “naked ambition” or “poisonous disloyalty.” Still, she acknowledged that his age — and the physical and verbal stumbles that came with it — had become a growing liability. “At 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed,” she wrote.
While stressing she never believed Biden was incapacitated, Harris added: “As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.”
Her reflections highlighted deep divisions inside the White House in the lead-up to Biden’s eventual withdrawal from the 2024 Presidential race, following a disastrous debate performance and mounting pressure from Democrats.
Beyond Biden’s decision to run, Harris also accused his inner circle of sidelining her and failing to defend her against sustained negative coverage. She described feeling undermined on issues such as immigration, where Republicans branded her “border czar,” and claimed West Wing aides often “added fuel” to hostile narratives about her.
“None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well,” Harris wrote, arguing that her success could have reassured voters uneasy about Biden’s age.
The memoir, which chronicled her 2024 campaign and its collapse after she failed to secure battleground states, was set for release later that month.
Harris, who ran for President last year, lost to Donald Trump.
Joe Biden greets Kamala Harris after he gave his farewell address from the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP) 
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