Kamala Harris throws Walz under the campaign bus, wished she picked Mayor Pete as running mate

Former Vice President Kamala Harris says she wanted to pick then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to run alongside her in the 2024 presidential race, but decided that tapping a gay running mate was fraught with too much political peril.

In her upcoming memoir “107 Days,” Ms. Harris says Mr. Buttigieg, called Mayor Pete from his Indiana mayoral days, “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man.

“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” she says, according to excerpts in The Atlantic. “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.

“And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”

Ms. Harris ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Mr. Walz received mixed reviews for his performance. He stumbled in his debate against then-Sen. J.D. Vance.

The governor also became a favorite target of then-candidate Donald Trump, who dubbed him “Tampon Tim” over his decision to sign a bill that put menstruation products in boys’ bathrooms used by students in grades 4 to 12.

Ms. Harris and Mr. Buttigieg are considered possible 2028 presidential contenders.

Ms. Harris has mostly stayed on the sidelines since Mr. Trump defeated her in the November election. 

Ten months later, Ms. Harris’ political future looks murky.

She passed on running for governor of California. She is thought to be considering another run for president in 2028.

That could put her on a crash course with Mr. Buttigieg and who overperformed expectations in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walz announced this week that he was seeking a third term as governor next year, likely closing the door on 2028 presidential ambitions.

Some question whether Ms. Harris will regret airing out dirty laundry in her new book.

She aimed at then-President Biden’s decision-making in the book, saying his ego and ambition hurt Democrats in the election.

Ms. Harris writes that the people around Mr. Biden were “hypnotized” into supporting his reelection push despite concerns over his mental fitness.

Mr. Biden’s second-term attempt flamed out on the debate stage, triggering a series of events that led to Ms. Harris taking over the top of the ticket.

“It’s Joe and Jill’s decision,” Ms. Harris says. “We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness.

“The stakes were simply too high. 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.”