Former Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi broke with the Democratic Party in its acceptance of Vice President Kamala Harris as the successor to President Joe Biden in 2024, Harris’ new book “107 Days” reveals.
In a flurry of calls made on July 21, 2024, Pelosi was a lone voice calling for due process in the selection of a Democratic candidate following the departure of Biden. The moves came weeks after Biden’s now infamous debate with Donald Trump, which yielded mounting pressure from donors and the public for the president to drop a second run.
“I’m so sad about Joe. It’s so tragic. My heart is broken,” Pelosi said, according to Harris. “But now it’s you! It’s important there’s a process, we have a great bench. We should have some kind of primary, not an anointment.”
Harris rebuked the democratic process in a later passage, stating, “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them. How much more time would it have taken to pull that off? I could imagine the chaos of even trying to decide how to do it, much less actually doing it, as precious days slipped away.”
“This is the process. If anyone wants to challenge me, they’re welcome to jump in. But I intend to earn the support of the majority of the delegates and I’m doing it right now.”
Harris describes how she received the call from Biden on July 21, telling her that he would be stepping down, and the yolk of power would be passed to her.
“There was no postponing the announcement of his dropping out, Joe said. ‘But the statement endorsing you will go out a few minutes later.’ ‘Joe, thank you for this,’ I said, relieved. ‘I will do you proud. I am so looking forward to carrying on the work we’ve done together.’ ‘You’re gonna do great, kid.’”
The Harris team quickly sprang into action, turning “the table that had just been the site of a relaxed family meal” into a base of operartions, “a site for the rolling calls we needed to make right away to secure support from Democratic delegates gathering for our convention in Chicago in less than a month, as well as from the former presidents, elected officials, and labor leaders who would be attending.”
The calling spree yielded some other interesting results:
Former president Barack Obama told Harris that Biden “did what I hoped he would do,” but that Harris “[had] to earn it.”
“Michelle and I are supportive but not going to put a finger on the scale right now. Let Joe have his moment. Think through timing,” Obama said.
Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Harris to “Please focus on the working class, not just on abortion.”
The Clintons were “thrilled” to hear of Harris’ assumption of power, promising “we’ll jump on a plane, we’ll get on Amtrak. I [Hillary] want to be part of your war council.”
“I went from call to call with the clarity that comes when stakes are high, stress is through the roof, and there’s zero ambiguity,” Harris writes. “There will be hard days ahead. We have a lot of ground to cover. But you are the best team in the world, and I know we can do this.”
The 2024 election would go on to see Harris defeated for the presidency and the democratic party punted to the minority in the legislature.
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