Kamala Harris’s new memoir, 107 Days, pulls back the curtain on the chaotic summer of 2024 and includes a jaw-dropping admission: she says she passed over Pete Buttigieg as her running mate because she feared America “wasn’t ready” for a ticket that paired a Black woman with a gay man. The excerpt, published in The Atlantic and reported widely by major outlets, reads like a confession that the Democratic Party still plays political roulette with voters’ identities instead of selling a message of competence and results.
She doesn’t mince words in the book, writing that Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man,” and then explaining that the combination would have been “too big of a risk.” That candid calculus is the clearest possible proof that identity politics—far from being a virtue—is often a cynical election-year calculation that treats Americans as predictable, easily manipulated blocs.
When MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pressed Harris about the passage, the former vice president tried to walk it back on-air, fumbling through explanations about campaign timing and political risks. The uncomfortable exchange showed that even the left’s most celebrated voices know this is a toxic position when you say it out loud, but are still unwilling to abandon the elitist game of picking candidates by optics rather than ability.
Pete Buttigieg’s reaction was telling: he said he was surprised to read that his sexual orientation was seen as a liability and reminded Americans that voters reward politicians who deliver results, not those who obsess over categories. His response underscores a truth conservatives have been saying for years—Americans want leaders who fix problems, not leaders chosen because they check identity boxes for a party’s internal calculations.
The obvious consequence of Harris’s admission is that Democrats remain trapped in a self-defeating cycle: pick by demographics, lose the argument about policy, and then blame the electorate when it doesn’t reward you. Hardworking Americans are tired of being treated like lab rats in the Left’s social experiments; they want better schools, safer streets, and a government that respects their freedoms instead of lecturing them about who they must accept on a ticket.
Patriots should take this moment as proof positive that the ruling class’s obsession with optics is a liability, not an asset. Conservatives must keep hammering this point: merit, character, and a record of delivering for people should matter more than the identity ledger kept by party strategists; the voters will reward those who respect them and their values.
