Kamala Harris has shared her thoughts on how losing the 2024 election affected her in a candid interview.
The former vice president was defeated by Donald Trump after she stepped in as the Democratic candidate following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
Despite an intense and determined campaign, Harris was unable to secure a victory for the Democrats, allowing Trump to win a second term in office, even though he faced disapproval from some within his own party.
In an appearance on The View to promote her forthcoming memoir, 107 Days, Harris discussed the emotional toll of the electoral defeat. The memoir’s title refers to the limited time she had to campaign after Biden’s exit.
Harris likened the sorrow she experienced after losing the election to the grief of losing her mother.
Upon her entrance on the show, Harris was warmly received and began by noting: “Lots of people have been coming up to me crying.”
Reflecting on election night, she recalled: “That night, I grieved in a way that I have not since my mother died.
“The pain, it was not at all about losing a race, I knew what it was going to mean for the country.”
She continued: “All I could say over again was ‘my god, my god, my god’. It was very difficult. I know many people experienced it in different ways.”
Discussing the process of revisiting those memories, Harris admitted that she and her husband had not spoken about election night until she was writing her book.
“That chapter of the book was probably one of the most difficult things that I had to reflect on and write about,” she explained.
“It wasn’t until I was writing that chapter that we ever talked about election night. We had never talked about election night, it was that traumatic.”
When asked about her current state of mind following the loss, she replied: “In spite of everything that’s happening in the world I don’t have any complaints.”
Harris has criticized Trump since her defeat, calling him a ‘con man’ and remarking ‘he’s really good at it’.
In her book, she also took aim at Biden, particularly his choice to seek a second term.
“The stakes were simply too high,” she wrote. “This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”