Sept. 18 (UPI) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris said she wanted to name former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as her running mate, but it would have been too risky.
Harris was the first Black female to run for the nation’s highest office and in her to-be-released book “107 Days” said she thought Buttigieg, who is a gay man, would have been “too much of a risk,” according to The Atlantic.
He “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man,” Harris wrote.
“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman … married to a Jewish man,” she continued.
“Part of me wanted to say, ‘Screw it, let’s just do it,'” Harris said. “But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”
She called her decision to nominate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate likely caused “mutual sadness” for her and Buttigieg.
She described Buttigieg as a “sincere public servant with a rare talent of being able to frame liberal arguments in a way that makes it possible for conservatives to hear them,” The Atlantic quoted from her book.
She called Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, “friends” and said she loved working with him.
Harris’ book is about her 107-day campaign for the presidency and is scheduled for release on Tuesday.
Harris and Buttigieg are potential candidates for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2028, but neither has announced an intent to run.