Former Vice President Kamala Harris was reportedly blindsided by her 2024 election loss to President Donald Trump and “bought the hype” that she would win, according to a new book.
“She was completely shocked, and [Harris’ running mate] Tim Walz was shocked,” The Hill reporter Amie Parnes said on the podcast, “Somebody’s Gotta Win with Tara Palmeri” released Thursday.
Parnes discussed reporting in her new book, “FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” which she co-authored with NBC reporter Jonathan Allen. The book tackles the 2024 presidential campaign and the chaos that unfolded after former President Biden withdrew from the race and Harris took his place at the top of the Democratic ticket.
While continuing to discuss the confusion within the Harris campaign on election night, Parnes said that Walz was sitting in his hotel room “stunned.”
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The Harris-Walz campaign was reportedly shocked by the election night results, according to a new book. (Getty Images)
“He has no words. And people are kind of explaining to him, same thing with her. And she’s like, are you sure? Have we done a recount? Should we do a recount?” Parnes said on the podcast, recounting how Walz and Harris reportedly reacted to their defeat.
“They thought that they were going to win. And so, you know, when they come back now and say, ‘Oh no, we didn’t really have a chance.’ No, that’s not what they were thinking. They thought they were going to win,” she added.
Harris campaign staffers felt “gaslit” by leadership about Harris’ chances at winning after being told that “things were looking good” for the candidate ahead of the election, according to Parnes.
Harris also “bought the hype” that she was doing better than she was, the author said.
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Supporters react to early election results at Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ election night rally during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, at Howard University, in Washington, U.S., November 5, 2024. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole)
“Kamala Harris was looking at her crowd size, and they felt like the vibe was strong and people were saying, ‘Oh, we have more boots on the ground. We’re doing better in fundraising,'” Parnes continued. “And she bought all of that. She bought the hype, and so did a lot of people in the campaign.”
According to the book, Harris reportedly told friends in the aftermath of her defeat that she could’ve won the election if she had more time and if Biden hadn’t run for re-election.
“She could have won, she told friends, if only the election was later in the calendar — or she got in earlier. In other words, Joe Biden was to blame,” the authors wrote.
Friends of Harris said that she believed Biden’s unpopularity and her late entry into the race tanked her campaign.
Harris reportedly told friends she could’ve won the election if Biden hadn’t run for re-election. (Left: (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images), Right: (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images))
However, not all of Harris’ friends believed time would’ve helped, according to the book.
“That is f—ing bonkers,” one Harris friend reportedly said. “If Election Day was October first, we might have actually somehow pulled it off. Shorter was actually better, not longer.”
One Harris advisor said the candidate’s problem was “substance,” not a lack of campaign time.
“I don’t think we needed more time… We needed more substance. And she did not have more substance,” the advisor is quoted in the book.
Former President Obama reportedly didn’t want Harris to be the nominee after Biden dropped out. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images, left, Kamil Krzaczynski/AP, right. )
The book also revealed that former President Obama hesitated to endorse Harris, believing she couldn’t win against Trump.
“He didn’t think that she was the best choice for Democrats, and he worked really behind the scenes for a long time to try to have a mini-primary, or an open convention, or a mini-primary leading to an open convention, did not have faith in her ability to win the election,” co-author Jonathan Allen told MSNBC this week.
“As it turned out, she didn’t win, but he was really working against her,” Allen continued.
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Harris’ office did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
