NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed that Pete Buttigieg was her “first choice” as running mate in last year’s presidential election, but such a pairing “was too big of a risk,” according to an excerpt from her upcoming book.
Buttigieg, the former secretary of transportation and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is gay, “would have been an ideal partner – if I were a straight white man,” Harris wrote in a portion of “107 Days” published by The Atlantic.
“But 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,” she added. “And I think Pete also knew that – to our mutual sadness.”
Harris ultimately selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. That pairing lost the presidential election to Donald Trump and JD Vance in November.
FORMER BIDEN CABINET MEMBER ADMITS PRESIDENT SHOULDN’T HAVE SOUGHT RE-ELECTION IN 2024
Then-Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a meeting with Pete Buttigieg, then-secretary of transportation, left, during the U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special summit at the State Department in Washington on Friday, May 13, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In the “107 Days” excerpt, Harris said Buttigieg initially led the eight names on her vetting list for running mates because “he 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,” according to The Atlantic.
“I love Pete,” she reportedly wrote. “I love working with Pete. He and his husband, Chasten, are friends.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives of Buttigieg for comment.
KAMALA HARRIS COMPLAINS ABOUT ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ LACK OF SUPPORT FROM BIDEN’S COMMS TEAM, INNER CIRCLE
Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and Democratic vice-presidential nominee, are pictured during a campaign event at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., US, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris and Buttigieg both ran for president in 2020, but the Democratic Party’s nomination was secured by Joe Biden in that election cycle.
Harris’s book “107 Days” is set to be released next Tuesday, Sept. 23.
“For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, former Vice President Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history,” reads a description of the book on Simon & Schuster’s website.
President Joe Biden welcomes U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump to the White House ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“From the chaos of campaign strategy sessions to the intensity of debate prep under relentless scrutiny and the private moments that rarely make headlines, Kamala Harris offers an unfiltered look at the pressures, triumphs, and heartbreaks of a history-defining race,” it added.
